How Contagion Works: Science, Awareness, and Community in Times of Global Crises - The Essay That Helped Change the Covid-19 Debate

In the end, the uncertainty is what makes us behave in an even worse manner than we ordinarily would, causing the cycle of suspicion to start all over again.

The more a Susceptible individual is informed – about numbers, places, patient concentrations in hospitals – the more their behavior will adjust to the context. Of course, this is not always the case – there will always be someone who reacts unpredictably – but most of us are equipped with reasoning skills. Scientific simulations take into account

In times of contagion, transparent information isn’t a right: it’s a crucial preventative measure.

While institutions might trust experts, they seem wary of us, of our emotional stability.

the ancient Greeks believed panic to be a circular invention of the god Pan: sometimes he would emit cries so loud and terrifying that he would scare himself with his own voice and try running away from himself in fear.

homepages. This confusion is the sign of an unresolved relationship, a love triangle that seems to have come undone in our modern times: a relationship drama where citizens, institutions and experts seem unable to communicate. While institutions might trust experts, they seem wary of us, of our emotional stability. Not even experts, truth be told,

Make better use of this time, use it to think about what our busy normality prevents us from considering: how did we get here, how do we want to start again? Number the days. Gain a heart of wisdom. Don’t allow all of this suffering to be in vain.

This is the time of anomaly; we need to learn to live with it, in it. We need to find reasons to welcome it, other than just our fear of death. It may be true that viruses have no intelligence, but they are better than us at this: they change, they adapt, and they do so quickly. We should learn from them.

All of a sudden, normality is the most sacred thing we have – even though we had never given it so much importance before, even though we don’t actually know what it is. We just know we want it back.