Stigma blamed as COVID-19 patients keep off voting

They backed out upon being informed that they had to wear PPEs

Blame it on the stigma attached to the pandemic, but not a single COVID infected person came forward to cast their vote for the five Assembly constituencies here on Tuesday, for the fear of being seen in a PPE. COVID infected persons in Dharmapuri also did not cast their right to vote for the fear of stigma of being seen in a PPE. While the disabled, and the very aged struggled their way to the polling stations to exercise their franchise, COVID patients quarantined in their homes failed to turn up at the polling stations, even as they had expressed their interest to vote. Many patients had expressed their desire to vote and had reached out to the 108 ambulance service to be picked up at the designated hour. However, they backed out at the 11th hour upon being informed that they had to wear their PPEs, says Raman Kani, District Manager, 108 GMR ambulance services. If the home quarantined were recovering from COVID infection, their desire to vote in an election that came once in five years was trumped by perceived shame and stigma attached to the PPE and the fear of being seen in one in their neighbourhood.