We must not ostracize those with COVID-19

I’ve been fortunate. I can’t tell you what it feels like to wake up one morning and not be able to taste coffee’s rich warmth, always slightly bitter. I can’t describe the paralyzing panic of not being able to breathe. I don’t know how it feels to lie in a hospital bed — alone — and have your body taken over by something we still cannot handle. Powerless. I know nothing of that which goes beyond a fever, chills, shortness of breath. They’re not things that can be read about and understood.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been careful. Always wearing my mask. Always six feet apart. Never in crowds. As someone with a roommate, I can’t afford to be solipsistic.

But that’s not why I haven’t contracted COVID-19. Sure, these things helped keep me healthy, but the reality is that — on some level — I’ve just been lucky.

We’re told it’s difficult to get sick from surfaces; two people need to be in close contact, and an exchange of respiratory droplets is essential to infection. Bathrooms are said to be particularly highrisk — that’s a hard one to avoid — and you should be prepared if you contract coronavirus at the grocery store, because that’s possible too. We want to believe that taking precautions will protect us, but health isn’t guaranteed. Exposure is possible everywhere, and it can happen to anyone.

And yet we still treat the sick as if they are somehow deserving.

Friends with any symptoms whatsoever now apologize for feeling badly; conversations shift from “thanks for your well wishes” to “sorry to burden you with my illness.” Those who do test positive are verifiable pariahs. Lambasted for their carelessness, we question how they could allow themselves to contract coronavirus. It’s not like it’s wildly contagious or anything. Labelled irresponsible, reckless, selfish even — we isolate COVID-19 patients in more ways than their physical quarantine.

Is this rhetoric problematic? Probably. But in a time when the very functioning of our world rests upon collective effort, it’s understandable.

Any present sense of normalcy is the product of mutual trust. Each time you step onto a bus or grab a coffee, you place some level of faith in those around you. You trust that they possess the same empathy and compassion you demonstrate. That they wouldn’t put others at risk should they have any reason to suspect they might be infected. Without joint commitment, we would be forced to live in constant fear — not of the circumstances — but of each other. So we’ve learned to expect the best.

That’s why we treat those who are sick with such contempt. Their illness is a flashing red light that they have somehow failed to engage in this process of shared sacrifice. Each positive case threatens to upset the careful balance of our current system, and that scares us.

But we don’t have the right to ostracize others just because we’re scared.

Being sick doesn’t make you worthy of derision; an illness is not a commentary on your moral character. When we conflate the two, we essentialize the experiences and values of people that need our support, not our judgment.

Yes, some positive cases are the product of irresponsibility. But the reality is that you can get COVID-10 anywhere, even while being extremely careful. Dehumanizing those who are infected — especially without context — is wrong.

You don’t know everything about someone just because you know they tested positive.

We’ve already lost so much — the ability to hug a friend, the freedom to dine without a glass pane between you and the rest of the world. Forced to retreat inwards to survive, we become claustrophobic. The walls of our new reality close in, and we forget how it feels to connect with those beyond our immediate circle.

In this mess of isolation, what we need isn’t increased exclusion. It’s compassion — even for those who might be part of the reason we’re quarantined to begin with.

Caring for others is bigger than donning your mask to the grocery store (though that’s a great start). We’re being asked not only to sympathize with those who struggle, but to do so at our own expense. And that’s a hard thing.

But true empathy necessitates forgiveness. And, in a world where our only alternative is perpetual isolation, we have to take care of each other. Maybe we can finally rise to the challenge such selflessness presents.