HUMAN NATURE AND FEAR - HAS SELF-PRESERVATION DISAPPEARED OR DOES ARROGANCE RULE?

After reading a brilliant article written by Norimitsu Onishi and Constant Méheut on March 29, I have country-wise listed the attitudes outlined by the author regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, and I have also searched the international press for similar articles pertaining to attitudes of all social layers:

• France: the French government urged citizens to work from home in order to slow the spread of the virus, but faced the prospect of people refusing to work because of the health risks. According to both locals and Parisians on the island, some urbanites arrived in Noirmoutier and headed straight to the beach. They were seen picnicking, kite surfing, jogging and biking. In retribution, tires of about half a dozen cars with Paris plates were slashed.

• Italy: it is currently the European country with the most infections and deaths. However, many fled south from the hard-hit north, the region first put in lockdown. Though hard figures are unavailable, some officials in the south have attributed new infections to the influx. Last week, Ruggero Razza, the Sicilian regional council member for health, said on television that many of the new infections in Sicily - 846 on that day alone - were caused by an influx of nearly 40,000 people from other regions.

• Spain: José María Aznar, the former prime minister, packed his bags for his holiday villa in Marbella, a celebrity resort on the Mediterranean, leaving Madrid on the very day that the capital shut all schools and universities. The move fueled anger across social media as well as calls to monitor Mr. Aznar and lock him inside his villa. 

• Germany: although hotels in Germany have been ordered to close, the Grand Hotel Sonnenbichl got special permission to stay open for one guest and his entire entourage: King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun of Thailand. A frequent visitor to Bavaria, the king also owns a lakeside villa in Tutzing, southwest of Munich. 

• Greece: last week, the mayors of several Aegean Islands asked the government to curb arrivals from the mainland. The mayor's office on Milos described the recent arrivals as "Trojan horses that could spread the virus into the community.'' 

In comparison to Romania's measures, however, the measures implemented in the afore mentioned countries, despite being good, were taken too late to be as efficient as they were supposed to be, hence the bad timming was the fatal stakeholder of the coronavirus crisis.

Nevertheless, the most problematic aspect of this pandemic is not the disease itself, but human's attitudes towards it. Even though they were skeptical and superficial at first, after they had become aware of the existent dangers, they started to be dominated by fear. Human's attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic are described as being  "a mix of miscalibrated emotion and limited knowledge" by psychologist David DeSteno in an editorial for The New York Times. 

"As news about the virus's toll in China stokes our fears, it makes us not only more worried than we need be about contracting it, but also more susceptible to embracing fake claims and potentially problematic, hostile or fearful attitudes toward those around us-claims and attitudes that in turn reinforce our fear and amp up the cycle".

And emotion impairs our perception of risk. In general, we fear unlikely, catastrophic events like terrorist attacks more than common and deadly events, like the flu. In the case of Covid-19, assessing risk is especially thorny because our objective knowledge of the disease is still evolving. Humans have evolved to react poorly to that kind of uncertainty and unpredictability, argues because both make us feel "a perceived lack of control."We're human beings, so we're hard-wired to respond to threats, to protect ourselves," she explains. "But it's really difficult to do ... when the threat is so uncertain and potentially far-reaching. That's where you start to see people take on more unusual behaviors."

Take, as an example, the recent panic-buying of months' worth of essential supplies and of non-essential medical materials. While preparedness is good, going to this extreme is not innocuous: It can deprive frontline healthcare workers of crucial medical supplies, like gloves, respirators, and face shields. There also seems to be something about fear that drives us to point the finger at others. Because the outbreak originated in Wuhan, China, anti-Asian sentiments and attacks have been on the rise. "When people react out of strong emotion, they can make quick, irrational choices", explains Alison Holman, associate professor in the school of nursing at UC Irvine and expert in health psychology. "There are people who already are prejudiced, and so something like this just reinforces the assumptions and stereotypes they may have in their minds about a particular group of people".

What can we do about it?

Experts recommend doing what you can to reassert a sense of control over your fears, without overreacting and risking contributing to public panic. That includes staying informed without overdoing it, as too much media exposure can heighten one's anxiety.

Commonsense precautionary measures are especially important given the high likelihood of contracting Covid-19. Those include self-isolating and monitoring your temperature if you get sick; washing your hands regularly with soap and water; and staying away from large gatherings, like concerts or marathons.

Above all, health experts say it's crucial not to let panic take over our decision-making and rational thought processes. Let's give up on arrogance, self-preservation and fear for a moment and unite in this fight against coronavirus, because only together we can stop this dismal pandemic!

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