WEBVTT - Despite Reopening Some Will Continue to Quarantine

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<v Speaker 1>It's Wednesday. I'm Oscar Ramirez from the Daily Dive podcast

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<v Speaker 1>in Los Angeles, and this is your daily coronavirus update.

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<v Speaker 1>Some people haven't seen or touched others for three months

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<v Speaker 1>because of COVID nineteen, and while the country is in

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<v Speaker 1>the beginning stages of getting back out there, some will

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<v Speaker 1>continue to isolate. Alan Gomez, reporter for USA Today, joins

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<v Speaker 1>us for how some in the elderly and medically vulnerable

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<v Speaker 1>communities and those skeptical of their government's reopening plans are

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<v Speaker 1>keeping the quarantine going. Thanks for joining us, Allen, Thanks

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<v Speaker 1>for having me. As the country is starting to reopen,

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<v Speaker 1>people are starting to get back out there, there's still

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<v Speaker 1>a big segment of people that are isolating, and we're

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<v Speaker 1>getting into three months now. Some of these people can

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<v Speaker 1>be doing because they're elderly, they might be medically vulnerable,

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<v Speaker 1>or just scared to get out and back to normally

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<v Speaker 1>get scared of the coronavirus and what it can do. Alan,

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<v Speaker 1>you wrote an article about how, really, you know, humans

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<v Speaker 1>aren't meant to be alone so much, and there's still

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<v Speaker 1>the this segment of people that are isolating that haven't

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<v Speaker 1>really had that human contact for quite some time now,

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<v Speaker 1>So Alan, tell us a little bit more about it. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it was interesting. I mean as we started seeing all

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<v Speaker 1>these different states moved to reopen their economies. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>this isn't a analysis of whether that's a good idea

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<v Speaker 1>or bad. It's just we realized that there are just

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<v Speaker 1>thousands and thousands, possibly millions of people who have been

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<v Speaker 1>isolated all this time and who have no intentions of

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<v Speaker 1>joining that reopening parade. And it's just been fascinating talking

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<v Speaker 1>to these folks just kind of what they're experiencing. As

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<v Speaker 1>you can imagine a lot of depression, a lot of isolation,

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of missing the grandkids and their children. But

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<v Speaker 1>it was really good to see some flickers of hope

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<v Speaker 1>in there, like things that they're doing to kind of

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<v Speaker 1>get through. And I can tell you just personally, I

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<v Speaker 1>learned a lot of lessons from from these folks about

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<v Speaker 1>how to get through this. Tell us a little bit

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<v Speaker 1>about some of this, because there was a study that

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<v Speaker 1>was being done about how quickly this forced isolation from

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<v Speaker 1>the pandemic was affecting people. You know, you spoke to

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<v Speaker 1>a few people that were part of this study. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it's you know, I spoke to this one professor at

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<v Speaker 1>a b y U or Her name is Julianna Holt Lunstead,

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<v Speaker 1>and she has studied loneliness as part of her career,

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<v Speaker 1>so she had studied this well before this pandemic came on.

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<v Speaker 1>And so what they found previously was that it's not

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<v Speaker 1>just a mental thing, isolation loneliness. It doesn't just affect

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<v Speaker 1>you mentally. It's something that can have physical effects on people.

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<v Speaker 1>It can raise your blood pressure, it can you know

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<v Speaker 1>that anxiety, that constant, that that stress that you may

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<v Speaker 1>have from being alone may lead to all sorts of

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<v Speaker 1>physical problems. And they find increased more rapid mortality among

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<v Speaker 1>people who are isolated, who are lonely, So they're quickly

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<v Speaker 1>diving in to see how quickly those kind of symptoms

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<v Speaker 1>can appear in people based on their isolation. It's not

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<v Speaker 1>something they've studied before before. It was just sort of like, Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>this person is isolated, let's look at how they do

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<v Speaker 1>compared to somebody who's not um. But now they're trying

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<v Speaker 1>to ramp up and it's an international effort with researchers

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<v Speaker 1>from around the country trying to see how quickly those

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<v Speaker 1>kind of sin THMs can really start materializing in people.

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<v Speaker 1>Is it a month, is at two months, is at

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<v Speaker 1>three months. So they're they're trying to take a close

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<v Speaker 1>look at what that's doing. And we hear a lot

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<v Speaker 1>about sort of the mental problems that come with it.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, just straight depression is something that a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of people have described when they're in those situations, and

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<v Speaker 1>those are very easy to identify. Those are mental things

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<v Speaker 1>that we can see. But it's that question of how

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<v Speaker 1>it affects these people mentally or physically, excuse me, and

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<v Speaker 1>whether that can lead to some you know, pretty drastic

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<v Speaker 1>effects on them down the road. Yeah, and this is

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<v Speaker 1>an interesting situation in that some of these uh, moments

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<v Speaker 1>of isolation, they come on gradually. Maybe you you know,

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<v Speaker 1>loved one dies off, things like that. Some of these

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<v Speaker 1>things can happen kind of gradually. And this was as

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<v Speaker 1>you mentioned the article forced isolation, This happened at the

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<v Speaker 1>drop of a hat in March. You know, we we

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<v Speaker 1>even know the date that it happened for everybody. So yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>how quickly this stuff could affect you physically is going

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<v Speaker 1>to be interesting to see what happens when it all

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<v Speaker 1>pans out. And you also write about you know, you

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<v Speaker 1>spoke to a lot of people, you know, how they

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<v Speaker 1>were dealing with their isolation, and a lot of them

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<v Speaker 1>said that, you know, they were finding certain reasons for hope,

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<v Speaker 1>whether it be you know, I need to force myself

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<v Speaker 1>to get out and see my grandson, or I just

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<v Speaker 1>need to get out and and experience nature and kind

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<v Speaker 1>of center myself that way. There was a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>different stories you came across. Yeah, it was interesting, and

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<v Speaker 1>there's a there's a ton more examples that we couldn't

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<v Speaker 1>get into the article, but it's you know, one of

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<v Speaker 1>the ones we mentioned was this seventy seven year old

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<v Speaker 1>woman who for eight years has been trying to write

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<v Speaker 1>a book and finally it was during this quarantine that

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<v Speaker 1>she got the piece in quiet that she needed to

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<v Speaker 1>find the finished Um. So that was just a really

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<v Speaker 1>you know, you know a lot of these people I

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<v Speaker 1>expected to speak to it would be sort of very

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<v Speaker 1>you know, sad interviews talking about just what they're enduring.

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<v Speaker 1>But really most of the people I spoke to, um,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, talked about finding those things that to to

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<v Speaker 1>to sort of brighten their day, to help them get

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<v Speaker 1>through it. M One gentleman who lived in Georgia, who

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<v Speaker 1>had moved to the small mountain town and really hadn't

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<v Speaker 1>gone up into the mountains all that much. Kind of

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<v Speaker 1>one day he just realized, wait a second, why did

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<v Speaker 1>I move up here in the first place, and just

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<v Speaker 1>took a dray I've been in the mountains, jumped into

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<v Speaker 1>a river, uh, and just said he had the time

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<v Speaker 1>of his life. As states are opening up, and all

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<v Speaker 1>the people that you spoke to, did you get a

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<v Speaker 1>sense that most of them were ready to get back

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<v Speaker 1>to it or they're still going to continue to tasilate

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<v Speaker 1>since the once I spoke to, we're doing so for

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<v Speaker 1>very specific reasons, being elderly, um, having some sort of

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<v Speaker 1>pre existing medical condition. Most of the people I spoke

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<v Speaker 1>to just are not going anywhere. Some of them just

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<v Speaker 1>don't trust their local governments that they're going to put

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<v Speaker 1>in place a responsible reopening plan. A lot of them

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<v Speaker 1>talked about like, hey, I went out to the store

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<v Speaker 1>one time and half the people weren't wearing masks. I

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<v Speaker 1>ain't going back out there again, you know. And so

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<v Speaker 1>it's this combination of suspicion of either the local government

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<v Speaker 1>or their neighbors of not taking this seriously enough. But

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<v Speaker 1>for a lot of them, it really sounded like they

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<v Speaker 1>had sort of okay now that they've settled into this,

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<v Speaker 1>now that they've kind of figured out how they're going

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<v Speaker 1>to get by, now that they've figured out how to

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<v Speaker 1>get food, how to how to entertain themselves, how to

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<v Speaker 1>keep themselves, saying during this, they just don't see a

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<v Speaker 1>reason why they're gonna suddenly break all that, jump out

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<v Speaker 1>into a restaurant and just risk being exposed when we

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<v Speaker 1>just have so many cases still out there in the country.

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<v Speaker 1>Alan Gomez, reporter for USA Today. Thank you very much

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<v Speaker 1>for joining us. Thank you so much for having me.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Oscar Ramirez and this has been your daily Coronavirus EPTE.

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<v Speaker 1>Don't forget that. For today's big news stories, you can

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<v Speaker 1>check me out on the Daily Dive podcast every Monday

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<v Speaker 1>to Friday. So follow us on my Heart Radio or

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<v Speaker 1>wherever you get your podcast