This post is geared towards highlighting some positivity that has ensued from Coronavirus. By using the lens of the different anthropological bodies, this post aims to examine the ways in which we as an affected population have managed to stay social while socially-distanced by helping one another during these hard times.
To Start...
Apocalyptic-like disasters happen relatively frequently, whether generated by nature (hurricane, fire, tsunami, earthquake) or man (war, nuclear meltdown). Some are biological: Ebola outbreaks, various flu and plague epidemics, and now the COVID-19 pandemic. Literature, TV and movies often show disastrous human behavior resulting from human need to survive. But research shows that in times of great disaster comes sudden assistance and support from community. The affected community convenes behind a common cause and supports one another to aid in the distress of the situation.
“...[crises] take place in the context of ongoing community life and daily routines - that is, they affect not isolated individuals but rather people who are embedded in networks of social relationships” (Martine, 2020).
The coronavirus pandemic has caused members of our broader community (the nation, and in fact the world) to struggle in endless ways: finances, schoolwork, health and safety, morale and mental health. Yet despite the tumultuous ramifications of COVID-19, people are still finding ways to prevail as a social unit.
The Basics...
We have been physically disconnected as a people during this pandemic; social distancing has forced us to rethink the manner by which we decide to interact. The process of revising connection occurs within the constraints of various “bodies” - individual body, social body, body politic - that guide a community's interactions. The individual body is the body each person recognizes as inhabiting that is distinct from other bodies. It is the “lived experience of the body-self.” (Hughes, Locke, 1987) Most individual bodies acknowledge a similar fact that they are their own entities, but how each of the individual bodies is perceived in a social or health/sickness related context varies from culture to culture. The social body is also recognized as the symbolic body. When thinking of this body in terms of health, we can use it to assess how well a society is functioning using a scale of illness. (Hughes, Locke, 1987) The body politic refers to a commonly policed, surveilled, and governed grouping. The strength of the body politic depends on its ability to manage and penalize individual bodies when they are not in accordance with the body politic’s regulations. (Hughes, Locke, 1987) With regards to the coronavirus, the body politic is represented by such governmental rules and regulations that dictate social interactions, immigration policies and the definition of “essential” as a means of controlling the spread of disease.
As individuals, we are looking for ways we can affect positive outlooks on a singular, self basis, but also for a broader community. The tension between our impulse to help and the constraints imposed by public health is illuminated in the New York Times article “The Science of Helping Out”: “Rules that require us to be physically apart during the pandemic mean that our traditional ways of volunteering in person are no longer possible” (Parker-Pope, 2020). We must look to conduct these constructive social actions within the restrictions - social distancing restrictions, quarantining ourselves from our friends and co-workers, the closing down of public spaces etc. - set by the current body politic.
In conjunction with the news articles tallying death rates, delineating the negative impact of the coronavirus on marginalized peoples, and sharing open letters to universities from frustrated students, there are occasional publications highlighting uplifting snippets of encouragement that shine through the grim reporting. Stories of heroism, spontaneous generosity, and grass roots support trickle out in between the devastating coverage of the pandemic and it subsequently offers something for the audience to feel good about: a glimmer of hope. This trend of inspiring behaviors is not isolated to the coronavirus crisis; it has consistently popped up in the midst of catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. This behavioral pattern raises the question of why, during times when our own livelihoods and physical/mental bodies are experiencing severe turmoil, do we feel the need to give?
Parker-Pope’s New York Times article quotes a Wharton psychologist who states: “‘There is a lot of evidence that one of the best anti-anxiety medications available is generosity. The great thing about showing up for people is that it doesn’t have to cost a whole lot or anything at all, and it ends up being beneficial to the giver’” (Parker-Pope, 2020).
During these unstable times, an individual may feel entirely powerless in his/her situation; these feelings are a side-effect of the body politic’s new adjustments surrounding the ways that individuals can notice themselves existing as part of a functioning social body given the infectiousness of coronavirus. Yet by recognizing that we as individuals can still be social through acts of altruism, we simultaneously bolster both our mental and physical health. This concept of benefitting from giving is sometimes referred to as the “helper’s high”: our bodies release chemicals that simulate pleasure upon engaging in acts of unreciprocated kindness (Parker-Pope, 2020). We physically feel better when we give to the social body.
Make Some Noise for the People in the Back!
Beginning with our fellow coronavirus victims in Italy, neighborhoods in those countries have been presenting a unified gesture of pride and support from the confines of their home balconies. Originally the worst-hit country (the United States has since superseded their statistics), the people of Italy were isolated, desperate for some gesture of solace. One Friday morning at 11am, national and regional radio stations alike simultaneously broadcasted the country’s national anthem and other patriotic songs. Residents trickled onto their balconies and patios to join in singing with each other while still apart. Chants broke out with messages like “Go Italy, go Naples!” and “there is no virus that can beat us!” A similar tradition was initiated in New York City following the numerous tweets and Facebook videos of these small scale celebrations emerging in Italy, and then India and Spain. Across the city, people began to open their windows and step out onto their balconies and rooftops to clap and make noise in praise of the tireless efforts from the first responders and essential workers.
“It starts with a single neighbor clapping. Soon dozens more join in, throwing open their front doors or hanging from their windows to put their hands together and say ‘woo.’ Perhaps 20 seconds into the proceedings, a man emerges from the garden apartment across from me, banging a pot with a spoon, and a woman appears on the stoop of the house next door…” (Hess, 2020).
In addition to offering recognition and continued motivation for those who are putting their lives at risk during this pandemic, the clapping ritual has become a new spontaneous neighborhood get together. This ritual is becoming the closest thing to a tangible check-in: who will we see tonight? How do they look? What are they up to? What is the condition of their apartment (and is it as bad as mine)?
“Thanking health care workers may be the point of this act, but its delights lie beside the point. The clapping is a communal outburst. It is a reminder that though we are isolated, we are not alone” (Hess, 2020).
The NYC clapping is made possible by each individual’s decision to volunteer support and morale for those who need it and for themselves. In doing so, each person partakes in a greater social experience across the city. While the original purpose of engaging in this act may not have been motivated by self-interest, people are leaving the coronavirus-style social gatherings and withdrawing back into their respective homes with a stronger sense of connection and confidence in the future. The symbolic body’s health is bolstered by the therapeutic act of individual bodies coming together to make noise - one of the most basic indicators of a healthy social body - as a collective whole. In both New York and in Italy, individuals are participating as tiny entities that make up one cooperative city (social body) to make noise as proof of life. Although it is not close to the constant hustle and bustle of the pre-coronavirus era, moments of clapping and singing indicate that those bodies are actively fighting against the forces trying to keep them silent. When individuals identify themselves as part of a symbolic collective, they are able to recapture the essence of stability that has been taken from their lives by the body politic’s restrictions.
Bew̶a̶r̶e̶ There for Thy Neighbor
In a somewhat similar vein of neighbors helping neighbors, a Brooklyn landlord waived April rent for all of his tenants in light of the turbulent economic climate that has ensued as a branch of the detrimental effects of coronavirus. Over the course of the last six weeks, nearly 30 million people have filed for unemployment, many of whom have no sense of their job security once “reopening” begins. The body politic dictates that rent must be paid on time every month in order for one to continue to live in their apartment. In New York City - and in the US in general - many people live paycheck to paycheck, allocating a large portion of their monthly income to their rent. (Haag, 2020) The sudden collapse of the economy has created a surge in anxieties over lost income and a potential inability to pay essential bills. At the end of March, the city estimated that 40% of New Yorkers would not be able to make April 1st rent.
Loss of income not only results in apprehension around paying bills, but for many individuals, their health insurance is connected to their employment. Job insecurity evolves into uncertainty about whether one will be able to afford - and access - the necessary health measures they may need; financial stability is a large indicator of the kinds of access one has to healthcare. The economic crash resulting from the nation-wide shut down instituted by the body politic jeopardizes the health of individual bodies and therefore, social ones as well.
Although he would be forgoing hundreds of thousands of dollars in income, Brooklyn’s Mario Salerno told 200 tenants in his 18 buildings that they could forgo the April rent payment. In doing so, he is offering a means through which individuals may acquire some stability regarding their financial (and therefore, bodily) health. He made that individual sacrifice for the betterment of his social community.
‘“ My concern is everyone’s health, I told them just to look out for your neighbor and make sure that everyone has food on their table’” (Haag, 2020).
The social body depends on the health of individual bodies and by absorbing rent, Salerno is doing his part to ensure that his social body will be as healthy as it can. Salerno’s decision does not solve everything, but it offers his tenants a little bit of fluidity that they would not have had otherwise in the case that their physical health is compromised.
The (un)Sung Heroes of Coronavirus
Desperate times call for desperate measures; the hospital was forced to use critical resources (staffing, building space, supplies) in new ways due to scarcity: “In the new I.C.U., a repurposed chemotherapy infusion unit, blue plastic gowns fluttered from door hinges, drying after being wiped down for reuse. A patient bed, tilted up like a slide, held pink plastic bins overflowing with patient supplies” (Fink, 2020). With 98 ventilators at their disposal, the staff started learning how to treat two patients with one ventilator. The hospital layout was adjusted to limit staff exposure to coronavirus patients: stickies indicated the rooms that hosted COVID-19 patients and ventilator control panels were placed outside of the patients’ rooms. In addition to redeploying critical health care materials and devices, human resources became as fungible as possible due to low staffing in the ICU:
”...two nurses who normally worked in the cardiac catheterization lab walked into the unit to offer their assistance. Dr. Rosenberg applauded. “This is the cavalry,” he said” (Fink, 2020).
The body politic deemed that caregivers and healthcare providers were all “essential workers” and therefore they are permitted and essentially required to occupy the frontlines of the fight against the virus. Their duty as individuals, but also as part of the social body representing the medical community, is to treat fellow individual bodies who fell into harm's way. By providing for these bodies, they are subsequently supporting their outside social community as well.
And To Conclude…
Against the gray backdrop of living in this coronavirus pandemic, there is widespread conversation generating a sense of “before” and “after”. The atmosphere feels threatening; things may never be the same. So many have died. And yet we can find fleeting instances of momentary euphoria, when individuals choose to come together to support a community construct. And we learn of individual sacrifice, where benefit inures to a team (of health providers), a community (a hospital catchment area) and other individuals (sick patients, tenants). The goal of publishing these stories is twofold: on one side, it provides a well deserved moment in the spotlight for extraordinary acts of generosity and kindness. Yet it simultaneously works as a medium to offer fragments of hope and good faith during the dark days of the pandemic. The body politic has confiscated our individual ability to interact with other individuals. Because of that, each person is perhaps realizing more than ever before how intertwined he/she really is with other bodies. We as a Western community place strong emphasis on our own individuality; yet the coronavirus is showing us that we do not, and cannot, stand as alone. We are all one singular body in a web of others that together create our social fabrics. The stories remind us that we are not forsaken; we are all a part of one large social body called the human race that will persevere.
Work Cited
Frank, Sheri. “'Code Blue': A Brooklyn I.C.U. Fights for Each Life in a Coronavirus Surge.” Nytimes.com, The New York Times, 4 Apr. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/04/04/nyregion/coronavirus-hospital-brooklyn.html.
Spary, Sara. “Italians Sing Together as Radio Stations Unite to Broadcast the National Anthem.” Cnn.com, CNN, 20 Mar. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/03/20/europe/italian-radio-national-anthem-intl-scli/index.html.
Hess, Amanda. “In Praise of Quarantine Clapping.” Nytimes.com, The New York Times, 9 Apr. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/arts/virus-quarantine-clapping.html.
Parker-Pope, Tara. “The Science of Helping Out.” Nytimes.com, The New York Times, 9 Apr. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/well/mind/coronavirus-resilience-psychology-anxiety-stress-volunteering.html.
Haag, Matthew. “This Brooklyn Landlord Just Cancelled Rent for Hundreds of Tenants.” Nytimes.com, The New York Times, 3 Apr. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/well/mind/coronavirus-resilience-psychology-anxiety-stress-volunteering.html.
Martine, Arkady. “Contrary to How It Seems, Humans Band Together During and After Disasters.” Tor.com, TOR.COM, 17 Mar. 2020, www.tor.com/2020/03/17/contrary-to-how-it-seems-humans-band-together-during-and-after-disasters/.
Schepher-Hughes, Nancy, and Margaret M Lock. “The Mindful Body: A Prolegomenon to Future Work in Medical Anthropology.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly, vol. 1, no. 1, ser. 1, Mar. 1987, pp. 6–41. 1.
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