Raw data and R script.

During COVID-19 pandemic several public health measures were implemented by diverse countries to reduce the risk of COVID-19, including social distancing. Here we collected the minimal distance recommended by each country for physical distancing at the onset of the pandemic and aimed to examine whether it had an impact on the outbreak dynamics and how this specific value was chosen. Despite an absence of data on SARS-CoV-2 viral transmission at the beginning of the pandemic, we found that most countries recommended physical distancing with a precise minimal distance, between one meter/three feet and two meters/six feet. 45% of the countries advised one meter/three feet and 49% advised a higher minimal distance. The recommended minimal distance did not show a clear correlation with reproduction rate nor with the number of new cases per million, suggesting that the overall COVID-19 dynamics in each country depended on multiple interacting factors. Interestingly, the recommended minimal distance correlated with several cultural parameters: it was higher in countries with larger interpersonal distance between two interacting individuals in non-epidemic conditions, and it correlated with civil law systems, and with currency. This suggests that countries which share common conceptions such as civil law systems and currency unions tend to adopt the same public health measures.在新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）大流行期间，多国为降低新冠病毒感染风险施行了多项公共卫生干预措施，其中包括社交距离管控。本研究收集了各国在大流行初期推荐的物理社交距离最小阈值，并旨在探究该阈值是否会对疫情传播动态产生影响，以及该阈值的制定依据。尽管在大流行初期尚无严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2型（SARS-CoV-2）的病毒传播相关数据，本研究发现多数国家所推荐的物理社交距离最小阈值介于1米/3英尺至2米/6英尺之间。其中45%的国家推荐1米/3英尺的最小间距，另有49%的国家推荐了更高的间距阈值。所推荐的最小间距阈值与病毒再生数及每百万人口新增病例数均未呈现显著相关性，这表明各国的整体新冠疫情动态受多种交互作用因素共同影响。值得注意的是，所推荐的最小间距阈值与多项文化参数存在相关性：在非疫情场景下人际互动间距更大的国家，其推荐的最小间距阈值更高；同时该阈值与大陆法系（civil law systems）及货币体系存在关联。这表明拥有共同理念的国家（如共享大陆法系与货币联盟的国家）往往会采用一致的公共卫生干预措施。