How has social distancing been covered on television news? The timeline below shows total mentions of social distancing across CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and BBC News London since the start of the pandemic, showing the phrase taking off in mid-March 2020, then fading on US media at the end of May, before recovering in mid-June, while BBC News does not show the rapid pivot away. The phrase has largely faded since the start of 2021, other than sporadic bursts of coverage on BBC News.