COVID Inequalities: Is Self-Isolation An Elite Concept?

Kamlesh works as a house helper in Agra. She is a mother to two small children. She describes her house as having one room where the family of four stays together. She recounts her experiences during the second COVID wave where her financial situation forced her to continue to move out of the house and earn. Under challenging situations, her earning money for bread became a priority, not a choice. Kamlesh went to work while many in the country were self-isolating to protect their loved ones from the infection.

“I was working in houses where people were infected with COVID-19. I knew they were sick. I didn’t have any choice. If not for infection, poverty would have made us sick. I had to move out. I used to be scared when returning home. I knew if I got infected, there was no way I could save my children from it who would stay with me in the same room. In terms of preparedness, we knew only isolation in a hospital ward was the way out for us. Our living conditions won’t allow us to survive the infection without infecting others,” said Kamlesh.

Since the start of the pandemic, the term ‘self-isolation’ has gained quite a currency. Across social media, the term can be seen floating as people encourage others to physically isolate from others if they happen to contract a contagious illness such as COVID. It was common for many families in the country to create a ‘sick room’ area during the pandemic where the infected family member could seek a temporary physical separation by not sharing the same bed, washroom and even utensils. However, for many this concept is foreign and cannot be implemented owing to their living conditions.

An ideal concept?

Self-isolation involves staying at home and keeping away from other people with whom you might be living to avoid physical contact as much as possible. Across cultures, people were asked to quarantine and self-isolate for 10-14 days after the appearance of the symptoms or when they had come in close contact with an infected person. According to some experts, while putting a person or family in quarantine was an effective measure in preventing the spread of COVID in the community, self-isolation from family and those who might be living with them was an ideal situation.

Dr Shankar Kohli, an experienced paediatrician from Agra said: “When a virus enters a house, it hunts down all family members say it be something like a common cold or a highly contagious infection like COVID. Some people with better resources might have some advantages over others but the infection spreads within the family before even the symptoms start to show up in the first infected person. They are the immediate people you are living with. Viruses will already do the damage before you even realize it. So, quarantine from social groups or community might work but self-isolation from people you are living with still remains an ideal situation.”

Dr Kohli said that most people have developed herd immunity owing to the vaccination and some undesired exposure to the virus.

Dr Vandana Kalra, an ICU head at Rainbow Hospital (Agra) informed that government guidelines are always laid down considering people coming from all kinds of socio-economic situations.

She said: “A reason why hospitals and even hotels were turned into isolation wards was that experts were aware that financial constraints could make isolation impossible for people living in poor conditions like cramping up in a one-room house. Isolation was necessary to put the virus out of the cycle, and it still is. We just have to find ways in which it could be exercised with people coming from all kinds of backgrounds. If not homes, hospitals will act as shelter.”

Is it attainable?

While the concept of staying at home, not working and isolating oneself from society and loved ones proved effective in many cases, it fails to take into account the fact that people coming from low-income groups cannot afford to self-isolate. As per a media report, people working in informal sectors like drivers, grocery store assistants and house hands do not have the luxury of working from home as their jobs cannot be done remotely. Sitting at home can cause them to lose their source of income. For people like Kamlesh, taking a day off was tough, let alone two weeks.

Kamlesh said: “In the neighbourhood where I live, not a single COVID case was heard or reported. It might be true or might not be. The fear of quarantine, restrictions and loss of income might have driven many to stay silent or not seek help from healthcare facilities.