Outdated opinion piece I wish I never wrote
Feb. 24, 2020 6.23 pm
With great concern I regard “infodemia” that accompanies new diseases. We survived the “swine” and “bird” influenza, Ebola, SARS and MERS, and how many more there will be. Back then the panic did not correspond to the real threat and at this point it seems to me that with every disease outbreak society splits in two parts: those who already have formed learned immunity to alarm news and others who continue to panic, getting adrenaline pleasure from it. Is there a factual reason to panic this time and why I believe it is better to be among those who are resistant to this type of breaking news.
As with any new disease outbreak actions including quite radical ones, such as closing public transport routes and gathering certain number of professionals to work in emergency mode are necessary and important. But this attracts the attention of media and it’s not a secret that they are interested in coverage of breaking news because it is the source of their income. The media coverage plays critical role in resources exertion, fundraising and minimization of the infection spread, but the by-product of it is panic. Very soon people begin to attach great importance to everything they see — because “everyone is talking about it,” and “it’s scary” and because it is human nature to pay attention to something that is constantly repeated for different purposes. As Edward L. Bernays, PR godfather and author of “Propaganda” was saying, “emphasis by repetition gains acceptance for an idea, particularly if the repetition comes from different sources.”
My father is a doctor, general practitioner and his patients ask him about coronavirus every day. Most of them ask laughingly, probably to show that they don’t really care about it or maybe it’s a nervous laughter that has something to do with deep fear of death. But the reason they ask is to figure out whether they “should be scared” or no. None of them asks about ways to protect from the virus, about certain medicines they should take to strengthen immunity etc. They want to be calmed with “authoritative” figure’s answer. But my dad is not an epidemiologist, not an infectious disease specialist, not a microbiologist and not a geneticist, therefore he has no insider information about the virus mutation and development process, neither do I.
But I can base my opinion on what I read in open sources. That’s what is clear for today: according to the most experts, China undertakes quite effective actions. However, the reliability of Chinese statistical data is not clear (as it would be with any other economically prosperous state where inflammation would occur). In addition, China does not transfer virus samples to other countries, although some countries have already acquired their own — naturally, along with infected people. The main reason for the noise around this virus is its novelty. When it will become sufficiently studied, the level of hype and fear will significantly decrease. Now we do not know many important things about the virus, including its mortality rate. We don’t know all the transmission routes, we don’t know how long the infection can last, we don’t know the important consequences, for example, how this virus affects the fetus (remember the Zika virus, which causes a mild illness in adults but disrupts the development of the brain in the fetus). But what we know is that by just maintaining panic we won’t acquire this data.
And still we have some crucial information. The virus is being studied at an amazing rate: the genome is already decrypted and the results are checked around the world; with a high degree of probability they suggest a source of the virus — bats and pangolins; methods of transmission are becoming clear (mainly with close contact from person to person, as the virus is non-volatile and does not live long in the external); different antiviral drugs have been tested (against influenza and against HIV, in particular) — apparently with some success according to cdc.gov. It is already clear that in general the course of the infection is moderately severe (severe patients take about 20–25% of cases). The ratio of the dead to the recovered changes in favor of the recovered and will continue to change, because the weakened, undiagnosed on time and untreated quickly died, but those who later received treatment have not yet recovered states University of Michigan News.
So, the main reason for mass fear is the fog of the unknown (which is dissipating more and more every day) combined with repetition in news. I think it is important question that anyone who is panicking should ask oneself: am I scared of the virus or of its coverage by media? By answering this question, one automatically gets two scenarios of action: to practice sports, strengthen immunity and cancel flights to Asia or to think critically, recall outcomes of previous epidemic outbreaks, selectively read news and researches and unplug the TV. Only actions can help you avoid the disease, panic and lethargic contemplation — never.
Anastasiia Gerasimchuk, senior student majoring in Journalism and Mass Communication at the American University in Bulgaria. With great concern she regards “infodemia” that accompanies new diseases. In three weeks she will fly home to spend couple of month in self-isolation.
