From what I’ve seen thus far, the majority still don’t see this issue for what it is. There is some heightened concern, but most still consider this outbreak as something that will possibly cause some inconvenience. IMO, the overall reaction thus far is due to a culmination of things:
- We’re accustomed to headlines from around the world that are horrifying in nature - so there’s a level of “numbness” to bad news
- News articles and headlines often blow things out of proportion in order to promote viewership - so there’s also a level of “the little boy that cried wolf”
- Most of us are accustomed to a society that has been insulated from large scale national disasters - think of 9/11 - not to minimize that terrible event in any way whatsoever, but there are parts of this world that have seen medium to large scale wars for years on end, yet the single event of 9/11 momentarily knocked the wind out of us as a country. The shock that was felt remains with most of us to this day.
- Outside of Websleuths, there’s a lot of conflicting information being thrown around, and the information provided tends to report how bad the virus is elsewhere - not so much in regards to how bad it could be locally....
- Which leads to a lot of denial (not to mention that 2.4% doesn’t sound like a catastrophe unless it’s put into full context)
With all that being said, I’m hoping that the President’s announcement, the WHO’s declaration of a pandemic, and the multiple cancellations of extremely large events will bring about a realization of what’s in store. With the US trajectory mirroring that of Italy’s two weeks ago, I believe there will be very little denial left in the US by the end of March.
I’m impressed with the turn of events that occurred throughout the day yesterday - it marked the beginning of a much overdue shift in mentality. I just hope it wasn’t too little too late.
MOO***
