It’s scary to think about getting sick right now, but in some ways it’s even more frightening to think of having to tell others.
In mid-August Brock University released a study (based on US data) that showed 53 per cent of COVID-19 positive participants denied needing to quarantine when asked by others and 34 per cent denied even having symptoms.
The reason?
Stigma.
People don’t want to feel judged for getting sick and, honestly, that makes sense to me.
Sure there are people who are being stupid, but there are thousands of other people who just have the misfortune of living or working with someone who made the wrong choice.
The results of that same study suggested that the bigger the stigma, the more likely people are to lie. Slapping a 21st century scarlet letter on people’s backs isn’t going to make this situation better.
