Keeping up with Coronavirus
The racism, classism, ageism and ableism in our coping mechanisms.
Keeping up with the spread of COVID-19 infections, risk factors, fatality rates, WHO recommendations, local government measures, which supplies to stock (and what not to hoard), or how to properly wash our hands is important to keep ourselves and others as safe as possible.
But keeping up is a lot of work and doesn’t always leave enough room for considering those who are affected differently by this ongoing crisis.
The ageism & ableism behind indifference
The vast majority of those who become infected with coronavirus will only suffer light symptoms and fully recover within a few weeks. To younger and healthy folks, this sometimes seems to translate to “it’s not that big of a deal, I’ll be fine”. This attitude leads to a relatively nonchalant approach to simple safety measures like keeping adequate distance, refraining from handshakes, diligent hand-washing, or staying at home at the first sign of cold or flu symptoms.
This increases the risk of infection for the immunocompromised, chronically ill, or elderly who will suffer severe illness if infected, and who are unlikely to recover quickly, if at all.
