![]() “In North America, we are a culture writ large that values individuality and autonomy, the idea that you can be anything you want to be if you just work hard enough,” Floyd said.īut this incessant drive to achieve often comes at the cost of community. Not everyone who is immunocompromised in the age of COVID-19 is lonely, but our culture has created the conditions for that to be more likely - and as Floyd pointed out, loneliness puts them at an even higher risk for illness. “When you’re chronically lonely, you’re more likely to get sick, and your body may take longer to recover from illness or injury.”Īll of that to say, it is no small thing to be continuously lonely. “To me, the most pronounced way loneliness can affect physical health is through immune suppression,” said Kory Floyd, professor of communication and psychology at the University of Arizona. When loneliness is with us for a long time, it increases the risk of depression, anxiety and substance use disorders, as well as heart disease, cancer, stroke, hypertension and dementia. Loneliness is part of being human, an evolutionary alarm system that tells us we need to connect with others for the sake of our survival, said Ami Rokach, a professor of clinical psychology and expert in loneliness at York University in Canada. Researchers have cited several causes for this alarming shift: changes in family structure and the increase in people living far from relatives, a capitalistic culture that encourages independence and isolation, the weakening of local institutions that have historically fostered intergenerational relationships, and social media. In 2019, before COVID, 61% of Americans older than 18 reported that they were lonely. Loneliness has become pervasive globally, so much so that in recent years it has been named as a serious public health concern, even an epidemic. It is different from social isolation, which is measured by the number of one’s social contacts. The feeling that is threaded throughout the complex experiences of Osato and other immunocompromised people in recent years is that of loneliness.Ĭolumbia University researchers define loneliness as “the subjective feeling of inadequate meaningful connection to others.” In other words, it’s “a gap between the level of connectedness that you want and what you have,” one New York Times writer elegantly put it. “It’s so lonely to know that our most vulnerable don’t feel safe going outside, and that’s not a priority for other people.” “I really want to affirm to the people who wrote these emails that there are so many of us out here who feel that way,” they said. In this piece, though, I also want to speak directly to those that we, the collective, have been doing a poor job considering and protecting. The best experts say it is still with us.” We were reminded when a reader wrote to us after one COVID-themed newsletter reminding us: “You should not speak of the COVID pandemic as if it’s a past event. The process of reporting this newsletter has made me think twice about how I’ve chosen to “move on.” My editor and I respectfully admit that mentality has shown in our newsletter. I have been guilty of going into grocery stores, music venues and restaurants unmasked in recent months. “I feel like we’re all living in different worlds, parallel universes.”įor those of us lucky enough to have immune systems more likely to protect us from the worst outcomes of COVID-19 - myself included - we’ve willfully denied the realities of immunocompromised people by acting in ways that ignore their needs. ![]() “All these communities I was a big part of, I’ve had to make choices for my health to not be part of them,” Osato told me. The same goes for public high schools, where they teach sex ed. And that left people who are immunocompromised, disabled or elderly fending for their own safety.įor Osato, this has meant opting out of what they once knew as a “normal life.” No one is masked in the venues where she once performed burlesque, and as a result, they don’t feel safe doing that work in those settings. Many stopped wearing masks in public places. Most of us emerged the next year eager to get on with our lives. That unlikely state of togetherness did not last long. Not only were we connected because this virus spread through each other and in the air we breathe, we had to be connected in order to get through this,” said Osato, a performer, sex educator and disability justice advocate. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
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