How to Manage Your Fear During the Coronavirus
Fear of the virus may be more infectious than the virus itself
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It can harm people’s health and weaken entire societies. Thanks to modern technology, it can spread rapidly around the world. And there is no effective vaccine.
I’m not referring to Covid-19, although the coronavirus can serve as its catalyst. Rather, an infectious agent that is as old as civilization itself and is rapidly reaching epidemic proportions: fear.
Fear can take both a physical and psychological toll. It thrives in an atmosphere of distrust and confusion. As Franklin Roosevelt famously remarked, as he began his Depression-era presidency, fear needs to be identified and confronted.
“The fear of the virus may spread faster than the virus itself,” says Norbert Schwarz, a provost professor of psychology and marketing at the University of Southern California. “Unfortunately, that fear will also spread to totally unrelated domains of life. A decade ago, the threat of swine flu not only increased Americans’ concern about getting the flu — it also increased the perceived risk of getting a heart attack, dying in an accident, or being the victim of crime.”
