Penn Pandemic Diary Penn Pandemic Diary, Entry #25: Trust Between Strangers

Svilena Bochukova is a joint MBA and MA in International Studies student at the University of Pennsylvania.

As I prepare to graduate, the Philadelphia apartment I have called home for the last two years is now almost empty.  A few boxes are stacked up on one side of the living room and the only remaining piece of furniture – my mattress – is leaning against the other wall.

Getting to this point was not easy, and I’m not talking about moving the mattress.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed so much. For example, most nonprofits such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army are not able to accept furniture donations, and city sanitation cannot dispose of furniture left by dumpsters. This left me no alternative, but to post my furniture on Craigslist and risk people coming to the apartment to pick up their new stuff.

Trust between strangers – on Craigslist or anywhere else – is always difficult to establish; but with COVID-19 making most human interactions significantly riskier, it has become next to impossible. I did my best to address this concern. I spaced out the times when people were coming to pick up furniture so that they did not overlap in the apartment and therefore, there was enough space for all of us to maintain at least a 6-foot distance. If items were small, I brought them outside on the sidewalk for people to view so they did not need to enter the apartment building at all. I requested that everyone wear a facemask and was sure to do the same myself.

The beautiful thing is that everyone was more than happy to follow these necessary measures. I find it extremely powerful that we are wearing these masks for those around us—after all, the CDC has concluded masks do less to protect the wearer than protect everyone else from the germs the wearer spreads. Although coronavirus might have restricted in-person interactions, it has not diminished our human connection to one another. When I wear a facemask, I protect you. When you wear one, you protect me. This, to me, is what public health—and a deeper human community—is all about. Each of us is responsible to the strangers we interact with at the store, on the street, in the park.

Recently, a friend in New York mentioned how they view every stranger on a walk to the store with suspicion and fear because they pose a potential health risk. I would argue that instead, we should view strangers with empathy. The best way to defeat this virus quickly is if strangers do their part to prevent the spread of the disease. There is no better way to establish our human connection than by taking care of strangers and trusting they will do the same for us.

The views expressed in the Penn Pandemic Diary are solely the author’s and not those of Penn or Perry World House.