"I'm positive, but I'm not saying it"

Raquel, a journalist in her thirties, tested positive in a PCR test and tried not to let more people find out than necessary.

"I'm looking for work and I didn't want the word to spread and they stop calling me: I could join any company in a few days, when my quarantine is over."

Julián, a cultural manager, also went through isolation and even now he doesn't like to talk about it: “Some people tell me if they have tested positive or not, their experiences, but I never say anything.

I don't know why, I don't like to talk about it ”.

Both have preferred to give a false name.

Is there a stigma around covid-19?

Is there fear of that stigma?

"Stigma consists of discriminating against a specific group of people, a place or a nation," according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention;

“It is associated with the lack of knowledge about how covid-19 spreads, the need to blame someone, the fear of disease and death.

It is also associated with gossip that encourages rumors and myths ”.

This situation can affect individuals who have tested positive (even if they have passed their quarantine, because it is distrusted that they no longer infect);

to ethnic groups suspected, without foundation, of transmitting more the disease (as in the case of Asians, or immigrants in general);

to inhabitants of areas with a high number of infections (such as “madrileñophobia”);

homeless people, or frontline workers (such as health workers, who came to be harassed in their own buildings).

Or, simply, people who cough.

According to the Youth Council, the social stigma on youth "multiplies" in the pandemic.

During confinement, the stigma associated with people with mental problems or disabilities also unexpectedly increased, according to the UCM-Group 5 Chair Against Stigma.

"Furthermore, self-stigma is being produced, which occurs when we internalize prejudices," explains Manuel Muñoz, director of the aforementioned chair.

What can lead to more infections: "There are those who can act as if the thing was not with them, without accepting reality," says the expert.

Stigmatization works against everyone: "Affected people may feel isolated, increase their fear of the disease, fall into depression," explains Guadalupe Fontán, spokesperson for the General Nursing Council.

"In addition, the fear of rejection can make people not get tested or, being positive, they do not cancel their activities so as not to be discovered."

In schools, as the Council has pointed out, children who have tested positive can be singled out by the rest.

The solution is to inform the school community, and society in general.

"It is normal, and responsible, to take precautions in dealing with people who are infected, what is no longer reasonable is to discriminate against those who have already passed it or the families of those infected," explains Muñoz.

In July, given the rise in infections, the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, made a controversial proposal: the creation of a "booklet" that would reflect whether people had been infected.

The proposal was harshly criticized by the scientific community, the World Health Organization and the opposition: it did not last long on the table.

The argument against her: the possibility of discrimination.

Stigmatization processes occur in different steps, according to sociologists Bruce Link and Jo Phean of Columbia University.

First, a label is put on some characteristic that is out of the ordinary.

Second, negative attributes are associated with that label (for example, "positive ones are irresponsible or they can infect me").

Third, such people are excluded in some area.

Finally, individuals lose their status, they are discriminated against.

Thus, Ayuso's hypothetical primer could contribute to the first labeling or the exclusion of those affected.

The concealment of the contagion itself can occur for other reasons, even due to denial pressure, which suggests a certain social polarization in this regard: "I have denialist friends who question the seriousness of the disease," explains María, who does not want to reveal her identity, “so when I tested positive I tried not to tell it: they could say that my positive is false, invented to create alarm, or that the disease is not so bad.

Nor do I want them to act as policemen and judge me for being infected.

I don't think it does any good to make it public ”.

Information about the coronavirus

- Here you can follow the last hour on the evolution of the pandemic

- This is how the coronavirus curve evolves in Spain and in each autonomy

- Download the tracking application for Spain

- Search engine: The new normal by municipalities

- Guide to action against the disease