Social stigma in the time of coronavirus disease 2019

[Extract] The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the lives of people around the globe since it appeared in Wuhan, China, at the beginning of December 2019. The burden of disease and its death toll have had an unprecedented impact on the healthcare, economic, and financial systems of low-, middle-, and high-income countries [1–3]. Peoples’ lives have been disrupted and negatively impacted by COVID-19-related suffering and lockdowns at community and household level.

The rigidity of lockdown measures has radically changed social interactions, with virtual meetings replacing face-to-face meetings to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Social distancing (maintaining a physical distance, for example, of at least one metre), besides frequent hand washing, use of face masks in public, and increasing ventilation of indoor spaces, is one of the most important health behaviours to reduce virus transmission from an infectious patient to others. While there is mounting evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted by the inhalation of airborne particles, there are a number of unanswered questions regarding virus transmission including the risk of transmission from asymptomatic individuals and contact with contaminated inanimate surfaces on which SARS-CoV-2 can survive for prolonged periods.