Research: Coronavirus Stigma And Discrimination Impacts Survivors
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) -- The fear of getting infected with the novel coronavirus is manifesting itself in discrimination and one professor said it could impede treatment.
"We've heard stories of people returning to the workplace after recovery from COVID and being fired or let go," said University of Delaware Assistant Professor Valerie Earnshaw.
Earnshaw specializes in how stigma from a disease impacts the mental and physical health of the people who have it.
"Often that [discrimination] looks like things like social rejection, gossip and can range all the way up to physical violence," she said.
In the U.S., Asian Americans are reporting a rise in racist attacks amid the pandemic.
Stop AAPI Hate, a website for reporting discrimination during the coronavirus pandemic, has taken in nearly 100 reports per day since it launched in March.
The website sites behaviors including being barred from businesses or transportation, being coughed or spat on, workplace discrimination, online harassment, verbal harassment, physical assault and more.
"It's irresponsible to called COVID the China Virus or Wuhan Virus knowing what we know about how associating locations with a disease can inflame stigma," Earnshaw said.
A recent study that Earnshaw recently conducted shows that people think they'll be shunned for getting coronavirus or that people who believe the stigma can undermine progress for testing and treatment.
"Those people are less likely to get tested for disease," she said. "They would be less likely to get a vaccine if one becomes available and they are following public health recommendations to a less extent."
Earnshaw says education is the best way to combat the stigma surrounding coronavirus.
"If we try to correct myths rumors stereotypes and rumors about COVID, it's likely that stigmatizing people with COVID will go down."
