Covid-19's big public health lesson: Ask people to be careful, not perfect

[DonViejo]

Harm reduction works. Covid-19 has proved it.

By German Lopez @[e-mail] Mar 15, 2021, 9:00am EDT

For too long, America has approached public health issues with puritanical, black-and-white approaches. Whether it’s an abstinence-only approach for teen sex and HIV/AIDS, or refusing to provide clean needles and overdose antidotes to people who use drugs, the country has a tendency to prefer the perfect but unrealistic over the better and pragmatic. The US repeated those mistakes again with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Much of the discussion about the coronavirus and how to mitigate it has been framed in absolutist terms. The initial phase of the pandemic was marked by harsh lockdowns, including relatively safe spaces like parks and beaches. People created Instagram accounts to shame those who didn’t perfectly follow the precautions. Schools have remained closed partly because parents and teachers are worried about any risk of Covid-19, suggesting that any risk whatsoever is too much.

But over the course of the pandemic, an alternative has started to take hold: harm reduction. The approach, initially popularized by activists working on drug use and HIV/AIDS, focuses on minimizing risk, even under less-than-ideal circumstances, such as telling people to have safe sex rather than abstain entirely, or be monogamous to avoid HIV. In theory, it’s not the best approach for preventing HIV, but it’s better, while letting people live their lives closer to what they want.

Over the past year, people have started to take approaches that enable them to do the things they love — even if that means minimizing risk rather than eliminating it entirely. Now, more people are dining out and going to parks, mitigating the risks involved with social distancing and masks. Federal officials have pushed to reopen K-12 schools, talking about reducing risk rather than completely eliminating it.

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https://www.vox.com/22315478/covid-19-coronavirus-harm-reduction-abstinence

[Wounded Bear]

1. Going forward, we really need to get people to respect diseases...

Last edited Mon Mar 15, 2021, 11:10 AM - Edit history (1)

even "mild" ones like cold and flu, which in many ways covid is a relative of-airborne, mostly respiratory, easily shared.

People with colds and flu should be able to stay home from work, and should wear masks when out. The whole "gut it out" strategy of going to work while sick just spreads the contagion to one's fellows; which brings to mind our treatment of workers in general and our lack of meaningful health services for our citizens. Paid sick leave and universal health care are desperately needed.

[Freddie]

2. And employers must stop having punitive policies about sick time

So many employers give people a hard time, warnings or even firing for taking sick time, paid or not.

[Wounded Bear]

3. Yep. Just in general, we don't tend to treat people right...

I've had some pretty good bosses about shit like that along the way, but I have heard all the horror stories and have seen them play out.

[area51]

4. +1 n/t

[Hekate]

5. KnR

[Deminpenn]

6. That has been my observation, too.

nt

[Hermit-The-Prog]

7. A pure bullshit rewrite of history.

IF we had gone through proper, hard lockdown coupled with test, trace, and isolate, THEN we would be in a great position to discuss opening everything. However, we've been divided by misinformation and cultism into two camps -- those who take the pandemic seriously and those who use it politically.