The global emergency due to the expansion of Covid-19 is leaving consequences beyond those strictly sanitary. One of them is stigmatization, which people infected by the virus face, in many cases pointed out and blamed by neighbors and close people who consider them responsible for the rapid spread of the outbreak.
In the Salamanca municipality of Candelario, several cars parked in tourist areas suffered punctures after learning of the death of a neighbor from coronavirus. Neighbors blamed people from other locations for carrying the disease, while the family of the deceased publicly asked to stop the “harassment” against them. An attitude that the City Council has condemned and that it considers “unjustified”, despite the fact that it was the City Council itself that announced through a side the death of its neighbor. Something that the family considers stigmatizing.
Jesús Linares Martín, member of the coordination of the emergency device of the Madrid College of Psychologists, assures that the rapid expansion of the outbreak generates ambivalent reactions. “In the face of the showcase, you can show support and understanding, but behind the scenes there are also certain actions of rejection. Actions powered by fear,” he explains. Linares warns that certain sectors they use this situation, in turn, to “stoke hate speech and rejection”.
The mayor of Guayaquil, the second city of Ecuador, this week prevented the entry into the country of an Iberia plane sent to repatriate Spanish citizens. The plane has finally landed this Sunday at the city’s airport, and its mayor, who has tested positive for coronavirus, is being investigated by the prosecution. This action shows, according to the Ecuadorian journalist Luis E. Vives, that there is a fear of the outside in the country.
In other places like Santiago de Chile or, here in Spain, in Tarifa, it has been the neighbors who have prevented the entry of visitors mounting barricades at the entrances to the municipalities. In the case of the town of Cádiz, the alarm went off after some families settled in their second homes to quarantine outside Madrid, the main focus of the infection in Spain. Despite these actions, Jesús Linares considers that society is more supportive than stigmatizing and points out empathy as the best way to combat fear.
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Given the uncertainty about what may happen, Linares recommends focusing on the day to day. “I am confident in the adaptability and resilience of the human being. Hope, beliefs or support networks can be a protective factor. Faced with these potentially traumatic events, society expresses itself emotionally and a climate of support is perceived that will bring positive consequences, “he says.
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