The COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to a new wave of health guild lines to combat the spread of the disease, keeping in mind that they are only 33,000 confirmed cases in the country date. That’s only o.ooo1% of the country’s population! Are these guidelines still necessary? And where they ever necessary?
How does this disease spread?
According to the CDC, COVID-19 can be spread over a prolonged duration among people who are in near contact.
This occurs when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or speaks, and droplets from his or her mouth or nose are released into the air and land in surrounding people’s mouths or noses. The droplets can be inhaled into the lungs and recent studies indicate that people who are infected but have no symptoms possibly also play a role in the COVID-19 spread.
An individual might be able to contract COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching his or her’s own mouth, nose or eyes. It is not considered to be the primary way the virus spreads, however. COVID-19 is said to live on a surface for hours or days, depending on factors such as sunlight and humidity. Social distancing helps to minimize contact with possible tainted individuals and surfaces polluted.
While the risk of serious illness can vary for everybody, everyone can get COVID-19 and spread it. These guideline makes it everyone’s role to slow down the spread and protecting themselves.
What are the Safety Guidelines?
Apart from maintaining a good hygiene and using face masks it is now recommended by the 
CDC to Self Quarantine, but with such a small number of cases and deaths are these measures necessary?
Quarantine is used to hold anyone who might have been exposed to COVID-19 away from others. Someone in self-quarantine stays isolated from others, and they restrict movement outside their home or current location. A person might have been exposed to the virus without realizing it (for example, while traveling or out to the community) or may have had the virus without symptoms. Quarantine helps minimize the further spread of COVID-19. While, isolation is used to distinguish the ill from the healthy. Those who are in isolation should remain at home. In the household, someone who is sick can isolate themselves from others by remaining in a different “sick” bedroom or space and using another bathroom (if possible).
According to the CDC this has greatly slowed the spread of the disease, but what about its affect on healthy active individuals? Ideally we would all be enduring this lock down with a loved one but the sad fact is 30% of Americans live alone. The indefinite end of the lock down poses a threat to the sanity of Americans that already reside alone and battling mental illnesses.
The Challenges of Living in Solitude
In response to the ongoing coronavirus epidemic, most state and local governments are requiring closures of non-essential businesses and schools, a moratorium on large gatherings, and a quarantine provision for visitors, in addition to promoting social distancing. Many states have issued mandatory residency orders for all but non-essential employees. A large body of studies connects social alienation and depression to poor mental and physical health. Former U.S. surgeon General Vivek Murthy has drawn attention to the common perception of depression as a public health problem in itself, referring to its correlation with shortened longevity and elevated risk of both mental and physical illness (Dr. Murthy sits on the KFF Board of Trustees). In fact, studies of the psychological effects of quarantine on other outbreaks of disease indicate that such quarantine can lead to adverse mental health outcomes. At this time, there is particular concern about suicidal idealization, as depression is a risk factor for suicide.
Early April, KFF Tracking Survey, conducted March 25-30, 2020, found that 47% of those 
sheltered reported negative mental health effects due to coronavirus-related worry or stress. This prevalence is substantially higher than the 37 per cent average of people who did not have an on-site shelter experiencing adverse mental health effects from coronavirus. For those sheltered, 21 per cent registered a significant negative effect on their mental health due to stress and concern about coronavirus, compared to 13 per cent of those not sheltered.
Likewise, those who say that their lives have been disrupted “a lot” (57%) or “some” (44%) by the coronavirus outbreak are more likely to report negative mental health impacts than those who claim that their lives have been disrupted “a little” or “not at all” (28%). Twenty-eight per cent of people experiencing a lot of disruption in their lives due to coronavirus reported significant negative mental health effects, compared to 15 per cent of those experiencing just some disruption and 10 per cent of those with little to no disruption.
One of the reasons why life in solitude is complicated is that human beings are social species. Some people who have worked in remote environments – such as researchers working in Antarctica – claim that isolation can be the most difficult aspect of their job.
Yossi Ghinsberg, an Israeli explorer and author who lived on its own for weeks in the Amazon, said that isolation was what he had endured the most and that he had developed fictional companions to keep himself in company.
Loneliness can be detrimental to both our emotional and physical well being. Socially alienated individuals are less likely to cope with difficult conditions.
They are also more likely to feel stressed and may have trouble processing information. That, in effect, will lead to problems in decision-making and memory preservation and retrieval.
People who are depressed are often more vulnerable to sickness. Researchers also found that a single person’s immune system reacts differently to virus control, making them more likely to contract a disease.
The effect of social isolation is exacerbated when people are put in physically isolated environments. Solitary isolation, for example, may have adverse psychological effects on inmates – including substantial rises in anxiety and panic attacks, elevated rates of fear, and reduced critical thinking.
The effects of this period will be seen through the economy and the general health of its citizens.This evidence begs the question, why are we still in being isolated despite the low death and infection rate? We at Gazette Insider leave that for you to decide.
