The Pennsylvania Department of Health has put out a document on stigma surrounding COVID-19.
“In public health, stigma occurs when a particular group of people are negatively associated with a specific disease. Fear and anxiety can cause stigma toward certain populations during a public health emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“Stigma, bias, discrimination and other types of aggressions are inappropriate responses to disease. These actions only worsen the threat to public health and make it harder to keep everyone healthy.”