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Three Health-Related Paradoxes in the Covid 19 Pandemic Publisher



Namazi H1 ; Monajemi A2
Authors
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Authors Affiliations
  1. 1. Department of Medical Ethics School of Medicine, Medical Ethics and History of Medicine Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences Tehran, Department of Medical Humanities, Virtual University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  2. 2. Department of Philosophy of Science and Technology, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies (IHCS), Tehran AND Department of Medical Humanities, Virtual University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Source: International Journal of Body# Mind and Culture Published:2020


Abstract

Health is enigmatic in nature, in the sense that people pay attention to it when they have lost it. This enigmatic nature of health is the context for expressing health-related paradoxes. The paradoxes of digitalization, isolation, and prevention that have become prominent in the COVID 19 pandemic are elaborated in this article. The digitalization paradox demonstrates that we have procrastinated in digitalizing daily life, but have the digital tools to communicate with others and share information in quarantine. The isolation paradox means that social distancing is required to prevent infection, but loneliness can make us sick. The paradox of prevention” arises when reducing the risk of persons in medium-risk to low-risk groups has a greater impact on the overall risk in the population than only reducing the risk of persons in high-risk groups. All three paradoxes reflect the complexity and uncertainty of circumstances in a pandemic and the need for medical humanities. © 2020, Vesnu Publications. All rights reserved.