Stigma still a hurdle in undertaking Covid tests

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 30

Though it has been around 15 months since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in March last year, people are still afraid of revealing their condition to their neighbours fearing that they might have to face problems. Such is the stigma associated with the disease.

Baljit Kaur (name changed), a senior citizen, when contracted Covid-19 earlier last month thought it better to keep the information to herself.

“I stopped going out for a stroll and confined myself within the precincts of the house. I would cook for myself and idle away my time watching television or talking to my children who live abroad,” she said, adding that for supplies she called her friend who visits her routinely. “She used to come and drop supplies at the entrance. I did not allow even her to enter the home,” she said.

She said she would extensively search online search engines to know more about the disease. Asked why she had not passed on the information to her neighbours, she said, “When the pandemic had just begun, I heard about a young couple living on rent in the nearby area. I still remember how people had blamed them and feared that they would spread the disease.” She said that the couple had moved to their native place but even when they returned, the behaviour of nearby residents was strange.

She said though she did not tell her neighbours, she stayed away from them. She said she had developed fever a few days after taking the first dose of the vaccine. “I consulted my doctor and so I gave a sample. The first report was positive. Then I again gave my sample after 17 days and the report was negative,” she said.

In such a situation where society is still to learn to act compassionately, a large number of people avoid going for tests as they feel that if they tested positive it would create unnecessary trouble for them and their families.