I had Covid-19. And society decided to stigmatise me

It was the afternoon of June 3 when I got my coronavirus disease (Covid-19) test report as ”detected “. It was done voluntarily so I would not have be quarantined at Srinagar airport where I had intended to go for a break.It came as a rude shock and the next step was mandatory home quarantine. I started it at once by moving to a nearby flat to avoid any exposure to relatives who may have been at high-risk.

This quarantine has been a nightmare because of a cascade of events initiated by my neighbours who sent a written complaint to the district magistrate (DM) and Station House Officer of the police station nearby, alleging that I was putting the lives of the residents in grave danger. I could see them taking pictures of me the surrounding balconies and CCTV’s footages of mine were also kept as evidence. I got a warning from DM following a First Information Report (FIR) recorded by the police saying that I shouldn’t move out of the premises until June 16.

It was a very unpleasant experience for me to see children looking frightened when they saw me and even one neighbour showering abuses at me. I started getting abusive WhatsApp messages from them and the resident welfare association accusing me of being a liar and a threat to them. The maid who used to bring food once a day to my doorstep was set upon by a neighbour and so she stopped coming. The local chemist who used to send medicines after a phone call also refused to send any medication.The garbage collector also declined to pick up the bags. The newspaper vendor stopped giving me newspapers.

Stigma is a global phenomenon and becomes prominent from time to time. Well known examples include Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary), the asymptomatic typhoid carrier who was captured by authorities in early 1900s. The injustice done to African-Americans stigmatised for spreading syphilis in early 2000s comes to mind. Misconceptions related to HIV-AIDs are in our recent memory. Finally, it was Magic Johnson, the baseball star and a champion of under-privileged youth, whose confession of being HIV-positive helped a great deal in increasing awareness of the disease.

I was reminded of old days when leprosy patients were supposed to carry a bell to inform others to be careful and move away. This stigma is a part of the history of humanity, despite the fact that it is a disease with low communicability. Leprosy patients used to be quarantined for life in colonies. Some of them, with physical deformities brought on by the disease, are still seen begging on roads being carried in carts.

In this case, I have seen personal discrimination from close quarters and also numerous media reports on patients and their families being treated as outcasts. There are reports of dead bodies being disowned by their families and crematoriums not accepting them for their last rites. Do individuals living alone in quarantine for the virus not require even one meal a day? I am fortunate in that I have a separate place of my own. But what about asymptomatic persons who do not need hospitalisation? Hospitals of Delhi and many other cities are already full of patents who need monitoring and special care.

Are we are making Covid-19 into a sort of disease like leprosy where the stigma has been transferred? By now, we know the preventive methods to contain the spread. This stigma needs to be tackled through education and also, in extreme cases, by punishing the perpetrators legally. At the current rate of spread, who knows whether you may be the next person in line to become infected and, then, unfortunately, ostracised.