N.S. doctors warn against COVID-19 stigma, say ‘othering’ people makes pandemic worse

A group of physicians in Nova Scotia is urging residents to avoid stigmatizing people with COVID-19 because it says doing so could make the pandemic worse.

The group of seven physicians and one medical resident released a letter today warning about the harms of “othering” people during the pandemic.

They say COVID stigma first surfaced in the province at start of the pandemic, when people with the disease were shamed on social media or when Nova Scotia residents discriminated against people with out-of-province licence plates.

The letter says efforts to encourage residents to get tested can be hampered by fears of judgment and discrimination, which the doctors say can interfere with contract tracing.

“The sooner we know someone’s got COVID, the sooner we can respond and the better we can do at containing it,” said Dr. Ryan Sommers, one of the physicians who’s helped pen the letter.

Physicians are calling for people to “focus on our common humanity” and avoid laying blame.

“We’ve had some situations where the individual has heard they’re part of the rumour mill, they’re dealing with a double whammy,” said Dr. Sommers.

“They’re trying to isolate and recover from their illness, and then they have to deal with the stress and the worries that comes with what other people are saying about them which may not necessarily been true.”

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The doctors also say public health measures can unintentionally worsen stigma because governments often focus messaging on certain communities or age groups.

But, the stigma that has come with the pandemic is no surprise to researchers.

“Anytime there’s a pandemic or when you’ve got major disruptions to our lives, people get angry and the easy thing to do is blame others for this disruption,” said Robert Huish, an associate professor with Dalhousie’s Department of International Development Studies.

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Huish has been studying the stigma associated with COVID-19 since early on in the pandemic and he says it’s interesting is how stigma has evolved.

When the pandemic first started, it was those of Asian descent who were being stigmatized.

During the summer, that changed to people driving with out-of-province licence plates. Most recently, it’s students and individuals between the ages of 18-35 being targeted.

“It means, on one hand, there’s always little bit of anger in society that’s being directed recklessly at different groups of people,” said Huish.

“But that also it’s being corrected along the way too – the groups we’ve heard from at the beginning are no longer feeling those same experiences.”

Huish acknowledges that having anger during this time is natural, but like the doctors who’ve written the letter, he says blaming people does no good.

“People who are feeling stigmatized are likely to suffer further through a pandemic, often through mental health issues, feelings of isolation, depression and disconnection.”

Huish says rather than blame, people need to focus on the team approach, noting that we really are all in this together.

Additional advice from the doctors is to avoid listening to rumours whether it’s in person or online.

“Misinformation can spread much faster actually than this virus spreads,” said Sommers, who also adds that when it comes to information the public needs to know, it will come out through official channels as soon as possible.

“We work very hard to let the community know if there has been any exposures to larger population and we’re very quick to get that info out.”

— With files from Alicia Draus.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2021.