They survived COVID-19 and then faced stigma

Thursday, September 24, 2020 (American Heart Association News)-From the moment of January when I first heard about the new coronavirus, Susanne Kaslo was worried about catching it. In mid-August she did.

“It was then that the ghost began,” said Katsro, 72, of Hot Springs Village, Arkansas.

After she and her husband Paul became ill, some of their friends stopped communicating. “Just-I’m in trouble!” She said. “They’re gone. You haven’t heard from them.” And when she commented on her case on a local social media site, one told her, “Wearing a Hazmat suit, our rest. Leave it to one person. “

“It was like radiation,” she said.

In Atlanta, the same thing happened after Marjorie Roberts got sick with COVID-19 in March. People treat her as if “I’m dirty now.” A friend ignores her, or worse, she does something embarrassing, physically devastates, or kills a close friend, as if she exaggerated the risk of illness. I told you.

“It’s very frustrating,” said 59-year-old Roberts, who began his life coaching career when she got sick. “It’s one of the hardest parts-the way you’re treated and the way people don’t believe.”

Contacted through Survivor Corps, a group formed to support COVID-19 patients, they and other members agree that the way society treats them is a real issue. But this does not surprise researchers studying such behavior.

“Disease-related stigmas are as old as human illness,” said Valerie Ernshaw, an associate professor of human development and family science at the University of Delaware in Newark.

In COVID-19, she said, stigma can take many forms. It crosses a line beyond healthy cautiousness where people wear masks and practice physical distance-and researchers are working on where to draw that line, but Ernshaw “In the mix, whenever you feel that someone is bad or has done something, you are in the realm of stigma fairly firmly.”

Globally, stigma has led to violence and discrimination against healthcare professionals. Hate crimes against Asian Americans are on the rise in the United States, according to Ernshaw. Some people have lost their jobs after showing a positive reaction.

For Roberts, Stigma is scolded for talking about her illness by a fellow black-American who thought she was hurting her image by capturing what seemed to be a problem for low-ranking people. I was connected.

Many want to downplay the fact that COVID-19 has disproportionately hit blacks, and she said she “treats it like a dirty little family secret.” I disturb her and make her angry.

After all, she said she wouldn’t discriminate against illness. “COVID-19 doesn’t care about my PhD. COVID-19 cares about the type of car, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms in the house, the place to shop, and the status. It is. “

Henna Budwani, an assistant professor of public health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said stigma is associated with feelings of shame, self-responsibility, embarrassment, and low self-worth. Those feelings are exacerbated during a pandemic where people are isolated and afraid.

The harm can be widespread.

“Stigma is the root cause of health inequalities,” she said. It adversely affects physical and mental health and can cause chronic stress associated with heart disease.

As seen in the HIV pandemic, people who project the disease to “other” groups are less likely to be tested, which can exacerbate the pandemic. Earnshaw recently led a study showing that people who believe in stereotypes about people with COVID-19 are less likely to be tested if doctors encourage it.

Stigma also affects people who are not ill. “One of the things that looks like COVID’s stigma is gossip, social denial, and generally denial of service,” Ernshaw said. Remember the last time you coughed at a grocery store. Even with a mask, “probably it looks dirty with side eyes.”

The roots of disease-related stigma may be deep.

Ernshaw said some evolutionary scientists would say that humans have evolved in the hope of avoiding those who are clearly ill. You may also want to avoid people who are essentially afraid of being a burden.

She said education and knowledge are the keys to change. “Correcting myths, rumors, and stereotypes about COVID really helps.” Language is also important. “It’s really irresponsible to call this something that could fuel an inaccurate stereotype of the Wuhan virus, the Chinese virus, or the disease,” he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization provide additional advice. For example, community leaders and public health officials share accurate information about how the virus spreads, the images used in communication show diverse communities, do not enhance stereotypes, and people who experience stigma. Speaking against your stereotyped group can help prevent stigma. Of COVID-19.

Sharing the stories of those who have recovered is “very helpful,” Arnshaw said. Caslo and Roberts say they are speaking for that reason.

The survivor needs to develop what she describes as a Teflon shell, head to the world, and say, “I can throw your stigma on me, but I’m not particular about it,” Katsro said. ..

Roberts, who is still struggling to walk to his mailbox about six months after getting sick, stopped rushing to discuss the illness under the rug and how it actually works. I would like you to acknowledge that.

“It’s not black,” she said. “It’s not white. It’s not about Asia. It’s not one of them. We’re all influenced by it.”

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