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The day the doctors reported that Elizabeth Martucci and her 11-year-old son were no longer sick with COVID-19, the American bravely left the house and wrote in chalk on the asphalt: “We survived COVID-19.“
“I thought I would tell everyone that I was sick and that everything was fine. I wanted to show people that it was not a death sentence,” Martucci later recalled, buying a T-shirt with the inscription “Covid Survivor.”
But soon the woman realized how much anxiety there was still. Even now that Elizabeth and her son are healthy for a month, some neighbors run away as soon as they see them. And there are many such cases in the United States.
Run, do not write, do not speak.
Many questions about postinfectious resistance remain unanswered. Do you have strong immunity? How long does it take?
Because there are so many doubts in society, some people who have recovered face the stigma that leads to fear.
A vet refused to help the woman’s recovering dog. Elsewhere, the laundry worker even jumped when she saw a local government official whose coronavirus infection had been reportedly reported.
Photo from Scanpix / Coronavirus Recovery Parade in Georgia, USA. USA
There was also a gardener who did not want to tidy up the yard of a recovering American. There was a neighbor who brought soup to the patient, but did not pick up the container in which she had brought it.
E.Martucci: It is very strange, when you are rejected. You are seen as a source of infection, not a healthy person.
Finally, there was a teenager who was sick and bored for a long time, and while lying in bed, he dreamed of going fishing with friends. When he recovered, he soon realized that his friends were approaching the young man.
“It was subconscious that people were afraid of me now because I was infected with the virus,” said Martucci, 41, of New Jersey, who said a neighbor staggered down the stairs and fell while she was running away from her. son.
“It just came to our attention then. You are seen as a source of infection, not a healthy person,” added the woman, who was already hiding a T-shirt made especially for her.
It feels like an outcast
Many of those who have been healed by others now say they did not expect to be stigmatized now. They particularly hurt the fact that scientists are talking about the fact that the antibodies produced after recovery will allow people to return to work in peace, after all, they will not become infected or re-infected.
There is also talk that the recovered can donate their blood plasma and thus help those who are still sick.
Reuters / Scanpix photo / Healthy people can donate plasma to people who are still sick
“It is a kind of dichotomy. You know that your blood plasma can save someone else’s life, but at the same time you feel intact,” said Sheryl Kraft, a Connecticut health journalist who became infected and described her own experiences.
“We are chosen. We can go back to public life, we can sacrifice plasma, we are very valuable. But for people who are very afraid of becoming infected, we are an outcast, “added the journalist.
New York City Council member Mark Levine, who heads the Health Committee, felt the symptoms of the disease in late March.
He immediately closed his home for a long time, and when he finally recovered and was able to go outside, he was surprised when a district laundry worker looked at him as if he had risen from the dead.
Photo by Twitter / Mark Levine
“There are people who think that if you get COVID-19, you get magic armor and you never get sick again. It is dangerous to think that way. However, there are also people who do not understand that they will not infect others if they get sick and recover, “said Levine.
Loneliness ripped the heart
The aforementioned teenager William, whose friends he used to fish with was not texting now, says he feels even more lonely. He went to a psychotherapist and decided to look for new acquaintances.
“I spent three weeks in solitary confinement. And then nobody wanted to meet me? I was heartbroken,” said William.
But he and other recovering Americans say they understand the anxiety of others; after all, there have been reports of people infected a second time. Also, the disease is so new that it will take a long time to understand it.
S. Hoffenberg: It turned out that my own family is so scared of me that they can’t even understand how lonely I am.
Samantha Hoffenberg, who lives in Manhattan, for example, also says she understands why family members left her almost two months after she recovered. Hoffenberg’s father died in April after being infected with a coronavirus in a hospital.
“When I got infected, I told myself that I would avoid my family as long as possible. What I experienced traumatized me, “admitted the woman.
Admittedly, after Samanthai had already recovered on April 23, a fire broke out in his building. The woman, who inhaled the smoke, had to be helped by doctors, and several panic attacks occurred.
Then, a hospital employee called S. Hoffenberg’s relatives, telling them that the woman was no longer ill with COVID-19 and that she wanted to see them. Family members did not want to meet.
“I’ve never been in such a dark and sad room. It turned out that my own family was so scared of me that they couldn’t even understand how lonely I was.” Samantha still has a hard time gathering words.
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