containment measures
Steps limiting expansion
Containment measures are actions taken to prevent something harmful from spreading.
The term appears most often in public health contexts—quarantines, travel restrictions, and social distancing are containment measures against disease outbreaks: Early containment measures slowed the virus's spread.
The phrase extends to any effort at limiting damage: containment measures for oil spills, wildfires, or financial crises.
- social distancingDeliberate interpersonal spacing
- contact tracingTracking disease spread connections
- quarantineIsolation preventing disease transmission
- lockdownEnforced restriction on movement
- pollution controlReducing environmental contamination
close contact · surveillance systems · isolation protocols · stay at home order · shelter in place · border controls · evacuation plans · vaccination campaigns · mask mandate · border patrols · red zone · travel restrictions · no fly list · damage control · curfew · flatten the curve · community spread · waste management
- biosecuritydisease prevention, disease control, pest management, biosafety, fumigation
- nuclear verificationIAEA, on-site inspection, inspectors, treaty compliance, routine inspections
- public health lawquarantine laws, quarantine regulations, public health orders, health regulations, vaccination law
containment measuresfree movement
Unrestricted ability to travel
open borders · freedom of movement · open access · deregulation · liberalization
containment measuresspread
To distribute widely
release · proliferation · unchecked growth · dispersal · dissemination
containment measuresnon-intervention
Policy of staying uninvolved
inaction · letting nature take its course · doing nothing · non-interference · permissiveness