Why do we need to act fast instead of waiting in hesitation?
And why are so many countries repeating the same mistakes around the globe?
The WHO was first informed about the COVID -19 outbreak in China on December 31, 2019. It is reasonable to say that many people around the world heard about it at least by February. On February 20th the first case was recorded in Italy; since then in less than a month the epidemic developed so fast that it hit the health care system and the whole country in an unprecedented way and turned into a national tragedy that no one could have predicted 3 months earlier. Tragedy that nobody expected in 21st century Europe. Yet it happened and when it was already happening hardly anyone who wasn’t in its epicentre had a clear understanding of the facts.
I remember when I called my dear friend living in a Tuscanian village on the 10th of March, when they were already in quarantine, and she told me that the information coming from the North seems to be a bit exaggerated by the media. Tuscany is in the Central Italy, the drama was taking place mostly in the North… A few days later she told me she was wrong. Things are happening really fast.
Recently I started seeing many of my Italian friends posting statuses on Facebook in which they were saying, “We were all wrong,” “Nobody understood what it is all about,” “Until recently we also thought the virus is far away and irrelevant to our situation. Once we realized, it was too late. We were ignoring it for too long.”
So why are people still disregarding the information that comes from the epicentre? Why do so many keep on saying “Well, it’s just like a flu, why should I change my behaviour?” when we already know how many people are dying and how overwhelmed Italian health care system is. (It is worth mentioning that the North of Italy, where the biggest drama is taking place, has possibly one of the best health care systems in Europe.)
We clearly experience something that we could call informational lag. To cut the long story short - things that are already obvious in China, Italy, and some other parts of Europe are being doubted, not treated seriously, or misunderstood in the other parts of the world just to be miraculously rediscovered only a few days later. But a few days now might mean a lot. Best example being Flatten the Curve urge - nobody knew about it on the North Shore not that time ago, when so many Europeans were already acting in response.
There are various explanations of this problem. First of all, somehow many people feel that it’s not our problem, that the COVID-19 hits others not us. It is a cognitive mistake being committed not only by individuals but by whole communities. It is not even about the geographical distance (China might be far from Italy but Lombardy– where the biggest drama is taking place – is not that far from Tuscany), it is somehow about the mental distance. About our inability to imagine that we could be soon in the epicentre of this tragedy. Not in the West, not in the 21st century.
There are some other factors that contribute to the spread of ignorance or disbelief – things are happening very fast so those who have the information from the epicentre of the epidemic are usually too busy or too overwhelmed on the spot to report immediately. Especially to the global public.
Language barrier is one more issue as in fact lots of coverage took place in Chinese and Italian traditional and social media that did not necessarily reach the global public. Also many well informed people are simply buying time and spreading the news via social media rather than official media, leave alone scientific journals because the traditional publishing procedures in the current conditions take too long. At the same time there is a lot of fake and unauthorised information going around which increases informational chaos even more. Those of us who can reach via social media to the people whom they trust living abroad, close to the places where epidemic is more vivid or are able to follow the media in other languages might be more informed but have troubles convincing others.
But there is one more important element of the whole picture, the fact that people keep on referring to ‘vulnerable groups’ as the only ones who should fear the virus, and consequently as many do not self-identify as being in vulnerable groups – they disregard the risk and official warnings and want to carry on with their lifestyles. These people clearly do not understand the urge to flatten the curve and need to be better informed. As the painful experience of my Italian friends teaches us – once the majority understands and treats it seriously – it is already too late. And what everyone needs to understand is that it is too late for everyone, not only for the more vulnerable groups. As in fact it is time to understand that we are all vulnerable in some way in the context of this unprecedented tragedy.
Just imagine, if somebody told you a month ago that many countries would be under general lockdown in the middle of Europe, would you believe it? Yet it is happening.
That’s why we need to do all that is possible to buy time and act faster than the virus. It’s high time to accept the reality, North Shore! It’s high time to be even more awesome!
There is one more point though. We are all used to acting, especially when we expect danger. This time we are all asked to refrain from action. It is a bit misleading. We are not really well trained for that in the Western world.
Also, the enemy usually is visible. Not this time. If nothing happens – it will mean that we won… However, if we don’t change our behaviours now – the failure will be vivid and painful.
We must all act as a team, united together, so that we can win together faster.
Let us all act together as a team to stop the virus from further spreading! We need everyone aboard. It takes a village. But yes, all together we can do it! All we need to do is simply stay at home.
And why are so many countries repeating the same mistakes around the globe?
The WHO was first informed about the COVID -19 outbreak in China on December 31, 2019. It is reasonable to say that many people around the world heard about it at least by February. On February 20th the first case was recorded in Italy; since then in less than a month the epidemic developed so fast that it hit the health care system and the whole country in an unprecedented way and turned into a national tragedy that no one could have predicted 3 months earlier. Tragedy that nobody expected in 21st century Europe. Yet it happened and when it was already happening hardly anyone who wasn’t in its epicentre had a clear understanding of the facts.
I remember when I called my dear friend living in a Tuscanian village on the 10th of March, when they were already in quarantine, and she told me that the information coming from the North seems to be a bit exaggerated by the media. Tuscany is in the Central Italy, the drama was taking place mostly in the North… A few days later she told me she was wrong. Things are happening really fast.
Recently I started seeing many of my Italian friends posting statuses on Facebook in which they were saying, “We were all wrong,” “Nobody understood what it is all about,” “Until recently we also thought the virus is far away and irrelevant to our situation. Once we realized, it was too late. We were ignoring it for too long.”
So why are people still disregarding the information that comes from the epicentre? Why do so many keep on saying “Well, it’s just like a flu, why should I change my behaviour?” when we already know how many people are dying and how overwhelmed Italian health care system is. (It is worth mentioning that the North of Italy, where the biggest drama is taking place, has possibly one of the best health care systems in Europe.)
We clearly experience something that we could call informational lag. To cut the long story short - things that are already obvious in China, Italy, and some other parts of Europe are being doubted, not treated seriously, or misunderstood in the other parts of the world just to be miraculously rediscovered only a few days later. But a few days now might mean a lot. Best example being Flatten the Curve urge - nobody knew about it on the North Shore not that time ago, when so many Europeans were already acting in response.
There are various explanations of this problem. First of all, somehow many people feel that it’s not our problem, that the COVID-19 hits others not us. It is a cognitive mistake being committed not only by individuals but by whole communities. It is not even about the geographical distance (China might be far from Italy but Lombardy– where the biggest drama is taking place – is not that far from Tuscany), it is somehow about the mental distance. About our inability to imagine that we could be soon in the epicentre of this tragedy. Not in the West, not in the 21st century.
There are some other factors that contribute to the spread of ignorance or disbelief – things are happening very fast so those who have the information from the epicentre of the epidemic are usually too busy or too overwhelmed on the spot to report immediately. Especially to the global public.
Language barrier is one more issue as in fact lots of coverage took place in Chinese and Italian traditional and social media that did not necessarily reach the global public. Also many well informed people are simply buying time and spreading the news via social media rather than official media, leave alone scientific journals because the traditional publishing procedures in the current conditions take too long. At the same time there is a lot of fake and unauthorised information going around which increases informational chaos even more. Those of us who can reach via social media to the people whom they trust living abroad, close to the places where epidemic is more vivid or are able to follow the media in other languages might be more informed but have troubles convincing others.
But there is one more important element of the whole picture, the fact that people keep on referring to ‘vulnerable groups’ as the only ones who should fear the virus, and consequently as many do not self-identify as being in vulnerable groups – they disregard the risk and official warnings and want to carry on with their lifestyles. These people clearly do not understand the urge to flatten the curve and need to be better informed. As the painful experience of my Italian friends teaches us – once the majority understands and treats it seriously – it is already too late. And what everyone needs to understand is that it is too late for everyone, not only for the more vulnerable groups. As in fact it is time to understand that we are all vulnerable in some way in the context of this unprecedented tragedy.
Just imagine, if somebody told you a month ago that many countries would be under general lockdown in the middle of Europe, would you believe it? Yet it is happening.
That’s why we need to do all that is possible to buy time and act faster than the virus. It’s high time to accept the reality, North Shore! It’s high time to be even more awesome!
There is one more point though. We are all used to acting, especially when we expect danger. This time we are all asked to refrain from action. It is a bit misleading. We are not really well trained for that in the Western world.
Also, the enemy usually is visible. Not this time. If nothing happens – it will mean that we won… However, if we don’t change our behaviours now – the failure will be vivid and painful.
We must all act as a team, united together, so that we can win together faster.
Let us all act together as a team to stop the virus from further spreading! We need everyone aboard. It takes a village. But yes, all together we can do it! All we need to do is simply stay at home.