As the United States approaches another major holiday week amid a surge in coronavirus cases, health officials and government leaders are once again warning residents to avoid large indoor gatherings. Dr. Joshua Barocas, Infectious Diseases physician and addiction researcher at Boston Medical Center, joined Joe Mathieu on GBH's Morning Edition today to discuss why the idea of ‘harm reduction’ may be the best approach to weathering the holiday season.
According to Dr. Barocas, the basic concept of harm reduction is acknowledging that people are probably going to engage in risky behaviors regardless of official recommendations, so it’s best to focus on reducing damage and treating people with empathy. “What I want to get across is, the idea that when abstinence is the only possible outcome, even the slightest slip-up means you failed — and we don’t want people to feel that way," Dr. Barocas said.
WATCH: Dr. Barocas on the concept of harm reduction
When it comes to COVID and Christmas, harm reduction means acknowledging that not all activities that are discouraged from public health officials are created equal. “We don’t want people to say, ‘I can’t do all of that so I’m not going to do any of it,’” Dr. Barocas said. “If we only have so much capacity, instead of saying, ‘I’m going to clean my surfaces every single day and never miss a spot,’ maybe we can conserve our energy to say, ‘I‘m going to wear that mask or not gather indoors with people.’”
Dr. Barocas said that harm reduction comes from the medical approach to addiction, which originated in the 1980s among drug users, and is the basis for public health programs like needle exchanges. “It’s Important in our messaging to avoid shaming and blaming people,” Dr. Barocas said. “All that does is drive that behavior underground. We understand this has been a long, isolating year.”
