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What Does Quarantine Even Mean Now?
How we isolate is about our values, not just our health
Over the course of 2020, the meaning of the word quarantine has changed dramatically, and not only because it’s gone from an infrequently deployed epidemiologic tool into a mainstream experience.
Historically, quarantine has been a passive state, based on the assumption that you were already infected and others needed to be protected from whatever pathogens you were harboring. You were put in quarantine by government or health officials, and you spent it waiting around, hoping that nothing would happen.
As we enter month seven of the pandemic, the word’s definition has changed because the way we quarantine has changed. We’re engaging in a new and active form of quarantine. You won’t hear scientists or lexicographers using the term this way, but in casual conversations, quarantine is no longer so passive. We’ve decided that we can be the masters of our own quarantine, and in doing so, we’ve transformed the term into a description for the way we engage with the world.
If it wasn’t an essential public health strategy, quarantine would be at risk of being a trend so hot it’s burning itself out. We’ve mulled quarantine for couples, quarantine for singles, quarantine for extroverts, quarantine strategies according to zodiac sign, and quarantine that allows you to do ANYTHING YOU WANT.
Saying that you’re quarantining now might mean you traveled on an airplane and are separating yourself from your usual circle to protect everyone else. Or, it could mean that you’re avoiding a regular contact who recently attended a large gathering, to protect yourself. Parents are quarantining when they decide remote learning is a better way to keep their family healthy even when in-person school is available. Older folks who have told their children and grandchildren that they may not visit are quarantining, too.
It’s an inversion of the power dynamic; we presume our own wellness and seek to insulate ourselves from a risky world. It’s about active risk management just as much as passive compliance. Practiced in this way, quarantine gives us a sense of control over a chaotic world, and balances risk with staying socially connected to our communities; it’s a crucial, and…
