I’m so over it, y’all.
I’m so over people misusing these words and nobody knowing what they actually need to do if they have been exposed to or tested positive for COVID-19, versus what people should just be doing to keep themselves and others safe regardless of illness.
WORDS MEAN THINGS.
So sit back, pour yourself a glass of orange juice, take your vitamins, and let’s break it down.
Since March, people have been saying that we’re in a time of quarantine.
Those people are wrong. While we are living in a time of social distancing and sheltering in place, we are not all quarantined. I get it — it’s catchy and it feels more dramatic; it’s on par with the emotions that so many of us are feeling during this crazy time. It’s still wrong, though.
Quarantine is what you do if you have been exposed to a virus but don’t know yet if you’re going to actually contract the disease. If one of your acquaintances tests positive for the rona (which is a term I love, incidentally), you should quarantine yourself until you know whether or not you’re sick. If you haven’t been exposed to a virus, you’re not in quarantine.
Isolation is when you are sick and you isolate yourself to keep from spreading an illness to others. If you test positive for a severe illness (such as the rona), you should isolate yourself until you are symptom-free for a few days.
But wait? I hear you ask. What have we been doing all this time, if not quarantining?
We’ve been in lockdown. We’ve been social distancing. We’ve been sheltering in place. There are a lot of words for what we’ve been doing, but quarantine and isolation are not among them.
Amber Sorensen 