I am well aware that COVID-19 is probably the last topic people want to either hear or read about, but I think it is important to put the national panic we are currently facing into perspective. Obviously, it is reasonable to be scared about a highly infectious disease that we currently have no cure for, but the hysteria surrounding COVID-19 has been out of proportion for what it is actually is. I am not talking about people practicing social distancing and events such as sporting events and concerts being cancelled, these are reasonable measures being taken to lower the potential of infection. Instead, I am specifically talking about overbuying, the stock market crashing and the alleged racism Chinese people are facing as a result of this virus starting in Wuhan. Social distancing is rational and productive, overbuying and racism is not.
In an editorial for the New York Times, Psychologist David DeSteno attributes the extreme response to COVID-19 as an example of availability bias. Essentially, people are so scared over this virus because it is all they see. Virtually every news outlet discusses COVID-19 nearly every time they are on air and because of this, people are interpreting this virus to be way more catastrophic to society than it really is. Constantly seeing a threat to ourselves makes us want to protect ourselves, but this is being taken to extremes and creating a positive feedback loop aiding the paranoia of COVID-19. Examples of this have been seen online, as pictures were posted of shoppers buying an exorbitant amount of food, toilet paper and supplies such as Purell and face masks. It is not bad to be prepared, but buying so many products essential for people to survive deprives others of said essentials. This overbuying has forced people to travel other places to get food and toilet paper and led to a shortage of face masks for medical professionals, which can both lead to the spread of the virus people are trying to protect themselves against.
Finally, the racism component Chinese people are facing. In the middle of a global problem, the last thing countries need to do is pointing fingers. The natural psychological response for a collective hardship is to search for a reason or entity to blame. However instead of this, we should be promoting cooperation via supplies and research sharing rather than focusing on how to punish China at the moment. To be transparent, I do not think the President calling COVID-19 the Chinese Virus is contributing to this unrest. It has been proven that the virus originated in China due to the lack of regulation on Wet Markets by their government. Furthermore, there is already another pandemic named about a nationality, the Spanish Flu. So personally, I do not think calling it the Chinese Virus is causing racist sentiment towards Chinese people. Regardless, China has permanently banned the use of Wet Markets, and as a result we should be fighting our natural response of blaming them and demanding they see consequences and should instead be focusing on fighting the virus which is ravaging our society.