T

he 
drawbacks 
of 
social 

distancing 
can 
include 

loneliness, reduced productivity 

and loss of health benefits associated with 

human interaction. Happy hours, fitness 

classes, traveling and football games 

activate the body’s senses and make for 

a pleasant experience — so much so that 

people crave and seek out more of these 

interactions. So when left to our own 

resources, many are wondering, “How 

can we handle social distancing?”

According to the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention, social distancing 

is necessary to reduce the probability 

of contact between persons carrying 

an infection and others who are not 

infected. Bottom line: By staying home 

you reduce the risk of becoming infected 

with COVID-19 and then unknowingly 

infecting others.

Not all people will experience the 

stress of this outbreak in the same way. 

The common ground is the shared 

responsibility to contain coronavirus in 

our communities. Worried or not, now is 

not the time to carry on like normal.

Many of us are scared, anxious, tired 

and sad. Take comfort in knowing this 

will pass and the drawbacks of social 

distancing are temporary. Use the time 

wisely to connect with yourself and come 

out the other side stronger. Right now, 

self-care is your health care; do as much 

as you can.

Be sure to be self-shielding: Being 

within six feet of someone who is sick 

can get you and your personal space 

contaminated with COVID-19. Now is 

the time to overindulge in screen time to 

completely avoid respiratory droplets of 

others when we talk, sneeze and cough 

— these can land on surfaces or in your 

mouth or nose. Skype or FaceTime your 

friends and conduct meetings over video 

conferencing platforms.

Prepare 
meals 
at 
home: 
Gov. 

Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive 

order on Monday closing all Michigan 

restaurants and bars. There is no 

antibiotic 
(they 
are 
designed 
for 

bacterial infections, not viral ones like 

the novel coronavirus) to treat COVID-

19. Scientists are already working on a 

vaccine, but they don’t expect to have a 

good vaccine until spring of 2021 at the 

earliest. It’s best to stock up on groceries 

for a two-week period of time, and 

prepare all meals at home. Use this time 

to fuel on healthy foods — avoid sugar, 

salt and white flour — to keep your 

immune system strong.

Work out at home: Thirty minutes 

is the magic number when it comes to 

reaping the benefits of exercise. Doing 

a workout that is out of your typical 

routine will challenge your body and 

keep your mind active. Find a workout 

video online and get your family 

involved. Utilize your backyard for 

breaks and a few laps to stretch your 

body.

Wash your hands: Twenty seconds of 

scrubbing. Do this often, and be careful 

about maintaining good hand-washing 

and cleaning of high-touch surfaces like 

doorknobs and countertops. Remind 

yourself not to touch your face.

Self-care is your health care: Ask 

yourself: What do you like to do? Avoid 

sedentary habits in the home — instead 

tackle home projects and organization. 

Read books, do journaling activities 

— anything you can do to set up your 

comeback when self-isolation is no longer 

recommended. Channel the creativity 

inside of you — keep pushing through. 

Are you doing all that you can?

4A — Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Alanna Berger
Zack Blumberg

Brittany Bowman
Emily Considine
Jess D’Agostino

Jenny Gurung
Cheryn Hong
Krystal Hur
Ethan Kessler
Zoe Phillips
Mary Rolfes

Michael Russo
Timothy Spurlin
Miles Stephenson

Joel Weiner
Erin White 

ERIN WHITE
Managing Editor

Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building

420 Maynard St. 

Ann Arbor, MI 48109

 tothedaily@michigandaily.com

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.

ELIZABETH LAWRENCE

Editor in Chief

EMILY CONSIDINE AND 

MILES STEPHENSON

Editorial Page Editors

Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of The Daily’s Editorial Board. 

All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

DR. RUBINA TAHIR | OP-ED

How to cope with social isolation

A

s the iconic piano riff 

began to play, my mom, 

grandma and I looked at 

each other with excited grins. With 

the lights of metropolitan Denver 

twinkling over the stage, Dolly 

Parton belted out “9 to 5.” Seeing 

Parton perform the song alongside 

my mom, who worked her way 

through college as a single mother 

and her mother, who worked at 

Wendy’s for decades until retiring, 

made the song’s anti-corporate, pro-

woman message hit even harder. 

We danced and sang along with the 

thousands of other people nestled 

between the stunning megaliths 

of Red Rocks. A lifelong memory, 

it wouldn’t be the only one set to 

Parton’s underdog anthem.

After waiting for four hours in 

Detroit’s Eastern Market, the same 

piano riff blared throughout the 

room. Like in Colorado, the notes 

brought an ecstatic smile to my 

face as presidential candidate Sen. 

Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., ran 

onto the stage. The room erupted 

in screams as she gave the woman 

who introduced her, state Sen. 

Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, a 

typical, big Warren hug. After a year 

of supporting and campaigning for 

her, I couldn’t believe my political 

icon was right in front of me. 

Attacking corruption and corporate 

greed with the fervor and agility 

only she has, Parton’s jingle felt 

tailor-made for Warren’s speech.

The overflowing excitement I 

felt from the rally hadn’t dissipated 

by 
the 
time 
Super 
Tuesday 

results trickled in later that night. 

Eventually, though, the excitement 

began to sour. My mother, who had 

registered to vote after attending 

a Warren rally in Denver, called 

me to vent her frustration with a 

Democratic Party that was readily 

denying a woman nominee. While I 

tried my best to cultivate optimism 

with California’s vote yet to be 

counted, a few hours later I had 

joined her in her anger.

Two 
days 
later, 
Warren 

suspended 
her 
campaign 
for 

president, narrowing the field 

down to two very old and very 

white men, former Vice President 

Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, 

I-Vt. Women across the country 

expressed their disappointment. 

Rachel Maddow told Warren that 

her leaving the race felt like a “death 

kneel” to see a female president in 

her lifetime while U.S. Rep. Nancy 

Pelosi, D-Calif., complained about 

being the most powerful woman in 

the U.S. government. I also couldn’t 

help but feel my once overwhelming 

excitement for the primary fall to 

the wayside. Beginning as the most 

diverse field in either party’s history, 

I couldn’t believe that in Tuesday’s 

Democratic primary I was being 

forced to vote for a white dude. As 

a liberal, it’s no surprise that I voted 

for Sanders, but unlike many of my 

classmates, I did so without any 

enthusiasm. While I wish I could 

see Sanders as a liberal beacon 

of hope, I can’t help but see his 

potential presidency as a looming 

disappointment.

Known for his crotchetiness, 

Sanders’s temper, exhibited by 

his constant yelling and hatred 

of criticism, is only matched by 

Biden’s, who famously called a 

young woman a “lying dog-faced 

pony soldier” for asking a question. 

Compared to ex-candidates in the 

race whose communication with 

voters 
encouraged 
productive 

dialogue, these two despise the 

questioning of them or their plans. 

With the most ambitious left-wing 

platform in modern history, this will 

likely come back to haunt Sanders’s 

presidency.

A politician for almost his entire 

adult life, Sanders is beloved for his 

admirable consistency on the issues 

that are now the centerpieces of 

his campaign. Sanders’ supporters 

tout his decades-long unwavering 

stances as proof he won’t flip-flop 

as president. In order to fulfill his 

promises, however, Sanders plans 

to do just that: Changing his views 

on the issue of executive power, 

a philosophy that he opposed 

as a congressman. His team has 

already drafted dozens of executive 

orders for his presidency to bypass 

Congress on issues like immigration 

reform, 
the 
environment 
and 

legalizing marijuana. While this 

proves he plans to make good on his 

promises, it’s a bad way to go about 

doing so.

Executive orders, while effective 

at enacting short-term changes 

during a president’s administration, 

will fail to solve the problems they 

address. Easily repealed by future 

presidents, any structural change, 

which most of his plans require, 

must be accomplished through 

the creation of permanent 

solutions codified by law. President 

Donald Trump’s repealing of the 

Obama administration’s executive 

order that created Deferred Action 

for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), 

leaving the futures of thousands of 

“dreamers” in limbo, exemplifies 

why unilateral executive action is a 

sub-par strategy. This is one reason 

his presidency won’t be the liberal 

heyday his supporters anticipate. 

While it’s reasonable to argue 

executive orders are a necessary 

evil to bypass Mitch McConnell’s 

lame-duck Senate, Bernie’s path 

to the nomination has entailed 

burning more than just Republican 

bridges.

While Sanders has publicly 

denounced the toxic “Bernie Bro” 

culture that is known for sexist and 

sometimes dangerous attacks on 

fellow Democrats, his actions don’t 

align with his words. Sanders, as 

well as other top officials in his 

campaign, have all sat down for 

interviews with the pro-Sanders 

podcast “Chapo Trap House.” 

Calling themselves part of the 

“dirtbag left,” the show is infamous 

for spouting off the same viciously 

insensitive remarks Sanders claims 

to denounce. With an agenda that 

will require at least unity amongst 

Democrats, 
Sanders’s 
unique 

inability to stop his supporters 

from attacking strong women 

like those who raised me was yet 

another reason I didn’t “feel the 

Bern” at the ballot box.

I used to tumble out of bed and 

stumble to the kitchen before class 

each morning and scroll through 

my phone’s newsfeed, optimistic 

that Democrats would not only beat 

Trump in November but would do 

so using the same woman-power 

that won us back the House in 2018. 

Now, my morning ritual inspires 

more sadness than hope. I want 

Bernie’s left-wing revolution to 

seize the White House, don’t get 

me wrong, but I’m disappointed the 

glass ceiling Hillary Clinton began 

to chip at more than a decade ago 

still has yet to shatter. While this 

election may have been heavily 

influenced by the boogeyman in 

the White House, hopefully in four 

years the nominee will be chosen 

based on their qualifications rather 

than their gender.

Why I can’t feel the Bern ... no matter how hard I try

RILEY DEHR | COLUMN

Riley Dehr can be reached at 

rdehr@umich.edu.

Dr. Rubina Tahir is a board-certified 

chiropractor and wellness expert and can be 

reached at chiro@rubinatahir.com.

KEVIN MOORE JR. | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT KEVJR@UMICH.EDU

