Published time: 02 April 2020
Authors: Florence Momplaisir
Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, outcome
Abstract
A returning student from China is not being truthful around dates of travel because of the fear of being stigmatized in his dormitory. A neighbor stops talking with a family next door because they are originally from France. A patient tells me that Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was manufactured as a weapon of bioterrorism. These are real stories that have happened before the massive school closures and the travel restrictions. As the spread of COVID-19 increases, I find myself pausing to think: could stigma, discrimination and misinformation decrease our ability to have an effective response to this pandemic? What makes this novel virus susceptible to conspiracy theories? And what can we do to collectively to fight against stigma and have a unified response, not only in the U.S. but globally?
The COVID-19 pandemic; we are all in this together
Reference: https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa369
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