COVID-19: an ‘extraterrestrial’ disease?

Paul, Élisabeth; Brown, Garrett Wallace; Dechamps, Mélanie; Kalk, Andreas; Laterre, Pierre‐François; Rentier, Bernard; Ridde, Valéry; Zizi, Martin

doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2021.07.051

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Second, COVID‐19 has been presented as an ‘entirely new and exceptional disease’ 2 despite science quickly identifying its relationship to immune system disorders 21–23,65–67 . Reiterating the story rather than adapting to the emerging science allowed for ‘entirely new and exceptional politically motivated’ interventions.…”

Section: Lessons Learnedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This single story has a simple logic: COVID‐19 is a new, highly contagious and highly lethal infectious disease, amounting to an ‘existential threat’ to humankind, 2 which can be reinforced by absolute numbers shared with the public on a daily basis. Part of this story suggests that the virus is somehow ‘clever’, since it regularly develops new variants that become increasingly contagious.…”

Section: A Trifecta Storyline Good Enough For Hollywoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By highlighting the dangers of this single storyline, we argue that the addition of other important stories is a crucial first step in capturing the complex nature of the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic and thus allowing for more sophisticated and effective response. This single story has a simple logic: COVID-19 is a new, highly contagious and highly lethal infectious disease, amounting to an 'existential threat' to humankind, 2 which can be reinforced by absolute numbers shared with the public on a daily basis. Part of this story suggests that the virus is somehow 'clever', since it regularly develops new variants that become increasingly contagious.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The danger of the single storyline obfuscating the complexities of managing SARS‐CoV‐2/COVID‐19

Sturmberg

Paul

Damme

et al. 2021

Evaluation Clinical Practice

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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie showed how a single story is limited and thereby distorts the true nature of an issue. During this COVID‐19 pandemic there have been, at least, three consecutive single stories—the ‘lethal threat’ story, followed by the ‘economic threat’ story, and finally the ‘vaccine miracle’ story. None of these single stories can convincingly and permanently capture the dynamics of the pandemic. This is because countries experienced different morbidity and mortality patterns, different socioeconomic disadvantage, age and vulnerability of population, timing and level of lockdown with economic variability, and, despite heavy promotion, vaccines were beset with a significant and variable degree of hesitancy. Lack of transparency, coherence and consistency of pandemic management—arising from holding on to single storylines—showed the global deficiency of public health policy and planning, an underfunding of (public) health and social services, and a growing distrust in governments' ability to manage crises effectively. Indeed, the global management has increased already large inequities, and little has been learnt to address the growing crises of more infectious and potentially more lethal virus mutations. Holding onto single stories prevents the necessary learnings to understand and manage the complexities of ‘wicked’ problems, whereas listening to the many stories provides insights and pathways to do so effectively as well as efficiently.

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Section: Lessons Learnedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Trifecta Storyline Good Enough For Hollywoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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