Why are you scared of Corona Virus?

It’s alarming to discover that disease, for example, coronavirus (COVID-19) is spreading over the globe. We’re all involved in tension invited by this pandemic. And not having the foggiest idea of how destructive the ailment is going to wind up being itself gives rise to anxiety.

Around 13,000 individuals have lost their lives of the infection since the episode started in the fall of 2019. 

Individuals who get coronavirus show symptoms treatable at home which are seldom considered critical. hence literally no symptoms to reveal the presence of the virus until it established itself well. Some may have no symptoms at all.

Such situations obviously give rise to stress, anxiety, and panic. The level and intensity may vary depending on different scenarios as to how was it communicated and the type of personality you are etc. There is a need to be aware of your situation and psychology to cope with it more efficiently. 

What worries us?

1. It’s as I write is momentarily untreatable.
2. It’s not easily identifiable, especially in initial stages.
3. It’s the ability to spread isn’t clear.

We hence are in a state of skepticism that has the potential to provoke anxiety, fear, stress, and depression.

What’s causing the fear?

You hear 3 people out of the twenty whom you meet talking about the people who died in a plane crash will add to your aerophobia. No matter if so three of them were speaking about the same plane or any other incident. 

Our world depends on our perceptions and we build our perceptions by the means of our sense organs, we see, hear, read, speak, experience, and think. Your version of the world is different from that of mine. Explain why different people have different phobias? Some are scattered sliders but most aren’t. Why?

Now, what if we all are exposed to a common threat? Events to enforce the perception that how deadly that threat is to everyone. Situations showing common concern, expression of anxiety, and possible and more importantly dangerous consequences would create? A more widespread experience and equally widespread fear. 

Tell me, will the people who live in a comparatively isolated world, at least from the multimedia be equally concerned? 

Ever heard of availability heuristics in psychology? You are more concerned about what’s recent and easily recallable. A person meeting an accident is very precautious the next time. But the intensity of precaution decreases with time. 

APS Fellow David DeSteno (University of Maryland) is quoted in The New York Times and Quartz:

“The answer is a mix of miscalibrated emotion and limited knowledge. 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.”

Is Corona worth the panic?

Why are Americans more afraid of terrorism than they are of guns, despite the fact that guns are 3,210 times more likely to kill them? Our fears and actual risks aren’t always lined up with logic. 

You at all costs should and must take the precautionary measures for your health. I’m just trying to convince you that anxiety and stress aren’t any of those. 

“Most people do not distinguish well between a one-in-a-thousand risk and a one-in-a-million risk,” said Mark Egan, an associate advisor at the Behavioral Insights Group in London.

Dorothy Frizelle, a consultant clinical health psychologist in the UK says “People notice more, and hear more, and read more, and interpret that in a threatening way.” She also quotes

“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.”

We become more susceptible to realize claims and rumors as we are inclined to believe what we’ve already been hearing a lot about. 

Everyone has a role to play, more so depending on how influential you are out what’s your reach level. The is a need to promote a positive mindset and retention of motivation level instead of showing panic.