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What Covid-19 Taught Us About the High Cost of Isolation

When the full story of Covid-19 is written, it will likely emphasize the physiology of the disease. We will understand the scientific nature of the virus, its tenacious binding to the lung and brain, and the cascade of symptoms and immunologic reactions that determine its run through the body.

More subtle and complicated, however, has been its disproportionate psychological impact on the lives of aging individuals who avoided the disease itself by largely staying at home and isolating themselves. If we didn’t know it or believe it before the pandemic, the hard reality is now unavoidable: Social isolation cripples and it kills.

As a doctor I knew the science of social isolation…

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  How will humans, by nature social animals, fare when isolated?

Covid-19 will harm people’s mental health.

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