How can I help others during coronavirus / COVID-19?

Help others during COVID-19 by looking after your physical health well.

Question: How can I help others during coronavirus / COVID-19?
Position‹5 of 5: Look after yourself
Argument1 of 2›: Help others during COVID-19 by looking after your physical health well.

Since January 2020, people have been devoted to fighting against the coronavirus. While becoming at one with the couch might offer some instant gratification, in the long-term, individuals should look after their own physical and mental health to help lessen the burden of others during COVID-19.

The argument

Loneliness might cause physical issues. Researchers have also identified links between loneliness and some physical conditions, such as heart disease and breast cancer. For ideas on keeping physically fit while in isolation, check out our map on it. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University, said lack of social connection heightens health risks as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day or having alcohol use disorder. She’s also found that loneliness and social isolation are twice as harmful to physical health as obesity While it's much harder to get exercise while in isolation, it is worth trying to do so anyway you can. Not only will it help your physical health, but will release endorphins. Simple home workout exercises include the plank, farmer carry, step-ups, free weights, skipping, etc. So do yourself a favor: take that 20 minutes, close down the alarming news, step away from social media, and try and raise some endorphins.

Premises

[P1]Loneliness and social isolation cause serious physical health harms, comparable to smoking or obesity. [P2] Exercise, even simple home workouts, improves physical health and releases endorphins that counter these harms. [P3] By staying physically healthy, you remain capable of supporting and helping others during the pandemic. [C] Therefore, you can help others during COVID-19 by looking after your own physical health.

Counter-arguments

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, looking after one's own physical health is not enough. Instead, many people are now taking care of loved ones who have become sick. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most people have mild illness and are able to recover at home, though people at higher risk for severe illness — including older adults and those of any age with serious underlying medical conditions — should call a health care provider as soon as symptoms start. People have the responsibility of not only saving themselves, but also these highly vulnerable others. CDC offers tips on helping people safely care for someone else who is sick with COVID-19. If somebody is at higher risk for severe illness, see if it’s possible for someone else to be the caregiver. More specifically, people should know the symptoms of getting infected, help cover the basic needs of the patient, and be able to seek help, etc.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The harms of isolation are well evidenced, and the premise then treats physical training as the remedy for them. Loneliness is a social deficit, and the comparisons cited concern lack of social connection rather than lack of fitness. [Rejecting P2] Exercise improves health and mood, but the premise never connects it to the harm identified. A home workout does nothing to restore the social contact whose absence the first premise says is doing the damage. [Rejecting P3] The link to helping others is asserted at the end and never argued. Staying well is a precondition for a great many things, which is not the same as being a way of helping anyone. [Rejecting C] On the argument's own evidence the more direct route to both ends is contact — checking on neighbours, caring for someone unwell, staying in touch with people living alone. Framing self-care as help for others answers the question only indirectly, at the moment when direct help was most needed.