Dr. Phil Gives Advice to CNY Woman Isolating Herself for 2 Months

As more coronavirus cases pop up across the country and in New York, health officials are urging people to stay home as much as possible. One woman in Rome was featured on Dr. Phil on Tuesday because she said she is self-isolating for two months.

Maria, who said she has an underlying medical condition, is deathly afraid of the coronavirus and is staying in her home to avoid possible exposure. She told Dr. Phil that she'll only leave the house for "an extreme emergency" where she needs something like water, but even then, Maria said she's pretty stocked up. In the event she needs to leave her home, Maria keeps masks by her front door.

"This has affected my life because I'm in fear of going in public places, like the doctor's office, the grocery store, the gas stations, just anywhere around people because that's how contagious this is," Maria said.

Dr. Phil had a piece of advice for Maria (and anyone like her) who may be extremely stressed about coronavirus in their community.

"If you are in 'panic mode' and if you are having high degrees of stress, probably 80, 85 percent of illnesses are affected by stress," Dr. Phil said. "And so if you are going to be at home, it would be really valuable for you to spend some of that time really reducing the stress levels in your life, in your thinking, in your mind to really calm yourself, quiet yourself and get rid of some of the tension that you're carrying in your body because that does compromise your ability."

Dr. Phil then cautioned Maria to take care of her mental health as well as her physical health during this stressful time.

Watch the full clip here.