What is an appropriate level of worry of COVID-19, and how can people stay safe and keep their anxiety to a minimum?

Our own Sam Shepherd tells his experience with Covid-19 and what he did to prepare for it. Don’t be afraid, get prepared. He theorizes that everyone will eventually get COVID-19, like the common cold, you just want to protect yourself and not die from it.

Psychologist, Ken Goodman, LCSW writes in the attached article: Prior to March 2020, people were not worried about getting sick. We lived our lives without safety measures and did not think about viruses spreading or killing people, even though they did. What changed? The country (and much of the world) was traumatized be the news of a pandemic. There was an explosion of media attention about an unknown virus that spread across the globe and into our country. We saw images of hospitals being overrun, severely sick people on ventilators which were in short supply, and not enough protective equipment to shield the nurses and doctors treating those patients. We heard doctors talk about the virus spreading quickly through asymptomatic individuals and there were scientific models estimating millions dying. To be safe and flatten the curve, virtually everything shut down – quickly.

Because our knowledge of the virus has improved since March, we must now flatten the fear, a difficult task for many reasons. Like toothpaste you can not put back in the tube, it’s difficult to dial down fear.

Once a trauma occurs, anxiety is maintained with fearful thinking and anxious behaviors. The challenge for any problem is finding a balance between being safe while minimizing anxiety and living life. In the case of COVID-19, we must protect ourselves from the virus and the fear simultaneously.

Please click to read this article: Flatten the Fear with Facts: What is an Appropriate Level of COVID-19 Worry and the Steps You Can Take to Reduce Anxiety