All 40 million residents of California have been ordered to stay home by Gov. Gavin Newsom. | Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images

The choices we make to stop the spread of coronavirus today will help those closest to us tomorrow This week, for the first time, Los Angeles County?s health department started releasing the number of COVID-19 cases by location. The places were familiar. Where I lived. Where I worked. Where my children went to school. Threaded by the public transit I rode. Seeing the numbers alongside the neighborhood names, it was suddenly clear that the novel coronavirus sweeping the globe has likely been just down the block for some time.

The federal government has issued a 15-day plan for the country to stop the spread of COVID-19, based on the newest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?s social distancing guidelines: don?t go to work or school if possible, limit gatherings to 10 people, and avoid bars, restaurants, and shopping centers. In other words: stick close to home. This incredible visualization by Harry Stevens at the Washington Post helps to explain why the next two weeks are so critical. Just watching the simulations?each dot is a person, and the interactions are randomized every time it plays?it?s clear that social distancing only really works when enough people eliminate all contact with every other person around them.
In South Korea, consider that one infected person?a single person!?may have infected a cluster of 1,000 pe...