Amid the COVID‐19 Pandemic, many countries worldwide have resorted to social distancing to maintain a certain physical distance to avoid direct contact between people. Despite the abundant literature on social distancing, how this mode of direct state intervention, which inevitably requires a lot of regulatory resources, was implemented has been a rare source of scientific inquiry. This paper attempts to fill this gap by presenting a case study that explores how regulatory resource deficits faced by regulators implementing social distancing were addressed in the regulator‐intermediary‐target (RIT) network. This paper highlights the role of local facilities as regulatory intermediaries in implementing social distancing in South Korea. Although social distancing was purported to keep physical distance among individuals, authorities' enforcement activities were primarily, though not entirely, targeted at local facilities. Analyzing in‐depth interviews with 30 local frontline inspectors conducted in September 2021, this paper finds that local facilities played a key intermediary role in deterring the spread of COVID‐19 as a private regulator. We argue that this role, constructed in the RIT network, was one reason South Korea could successfully deter the spread of the virus without a lockdown in the early stage of the Pandemic.

中文翻译：

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通过监管机构确保社交距离：当地设施在韩国阻止 COVID-19 方面的作用

在 COVID-19 大流行期间，全球许多国家都采取了保持社交距离以保持一定身体距离，以避免人与人之间的直接接触。尽管有大量关于社交距离的文献，但这种不可避免地需要大量监管资源的国家直接干预模式是如何实施的，一直是一个罕见的科学研究来源。本文试图通过提供一个案例研究来填补这一空白，该案例研究探讨了如何在监管机构-中介-目标 （RIT） 网络中解决实施社交距离的监管机构面临的监管资源短缺。本文重点介绍了当地设施在韩国实施社交距离方面作为监管中介的作用。尽管据称保持社交距离是为了保持个人之间的身体距离，但当局的执法活动主要针对当地设施，但并非全部。本文分析了 2021 年 9 月对 30 名当地一线检查员进行的深入访谈，发现当地设施作为私人监管机构在阻止 COVID-19 传播方面发挥了关键的中介作用。我们认为，在 RIT 网络中构建的这一角色是韩国可以在大流行初期无需封锁的情况下成功阻止病毒传播的原因之一。