Word: panic
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...true pandemic situation, the state of panic would be unavoidable and probably much more severe. But, for swine flu, we truly have nothing to fear but fear itself...
...fundamentally good thing that the Harvard community has been notified via e-mail of the disease’s potential to spread and of its presence on campus, perhaps the best thing about Harvard’s reaction is its commitment to informing the community instead of inspiring panic. We certainly echo the recommendations of University Health Services officials who have suggested taking small precautions such as frequent hand-washing, but we hope that students do not allow a fear of contracting this new flu strain to inhibit their daily routines and activities. In cases like this one, caution?...
...Panic, of course, has risks of its own. One big danger is wasted time, which can cost businesses revenue if workers stay home out of fear. Waste can also come in the form of purchasing unnecessary antiviral drugs or face masks, which are basically ineffective against something as small as a virus, anyway (though they may keep out globs of mucus where viruses tend to be concentrated...
...Another concern about panic is declining sales in industries associated with the outbreak. For instance, U.S. hog markets have been hurt recently as consumers scared about the flu are avoiding pig products. This behavior is irrational: Unlike mad cow disease, which involves prions that can stick around after death, viruses need their host to be alive and cannot survive cooking, so there’s no danger in eating cooked meat of a pig that was sick before it died. The Feds have tried to explain this to Americans and have even started calling the virus “H1N1?...
...Taiwan Strait or Palestine. In addition, the blame for the disease may take on an ethnic or racial component. In the U.S., swine flu has already encouraged latent racism against Latinos to bubble to the surface. For organizations where keeping calm is a daily struggle, like prisons, pandemic panic can lead to riots or even murders...