Have you ever had the flu? Sure you have and sure you have survived it, since you are here reading this article. In recent weeks, a virus has taken center stage and even the reins of international agendas. And, of course, in this situation, the fear of contagion spreads faster than the virus itself. The coronavirus has caused such a great social alarm that it can already be considered a fully-fledged phobia: corona phobia. But is the coronavirus so dangerous?
The phobia of the coronavirus
It all started info Wuhan. From there we received the first news of a new type of virus that was spreading among the population and there were even some deaths. And from there, more than just the virus spread rapidly. The fact is that COVID19 has the same symptoms as a common flu and, in addition, it is cured as easily as it is. The fact that they highlight the number of deaths only increases psychosis and alarmism.
Experts tell us that more people die from the than from the coronavirus, that it is an infection that in most cases is mild and that it is not easily spread among children. Our little ones are safe, but people with an immunosuppressive disease or the elderly are not so safe. It is in these risk groups where these mortality figures due to the coronavirus occur.
Despite this, the of the coronavirus has skyrocketed. The health authorities speak more of a pandemic than of a coronavirus epidemic, but what has also occurred is a phobia pandemic.
The alarm generated by the coronavirus
And while, from the high authorities, calm is invited, they do not stop activating protocols and ensuring that they are prepared in the event of an epidemic. In other countries they put cities in isolation, in Spain more than one event has already been canceled and the whole world is preparing to cancel football matches or concerts. It seems that even the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are hanging by a thread, the thread of coronavirus scaremongering.
We cannot avoid alarmism because the messages are contradictory. With one hand, they assure us that the coronavirus is like the flu and that it is even less lethal than the flu. But, on the other hand, they prepare for the worst. What are we left with? An event is not canceled due to the danger of catching the flu; an entire city is not isolated due to a flu epidemic.
How to overcome the fear of contagion from the coronavirus?
In these circumstances, corona phobia or fear of the coronavirus is fully justified. And yet, it is convenient for us to overcome the fear of contagion so that this fear does not interfere in our day to day. But how to end that fear?
Nobody wants to get coronavirus, just like nobody wants to get the flu. It seems that there is an obsession with avoiding contagion in which masks have been placed in the spotlight. The fact of knowing that the mask is useless when it comes to avoiding catching coronavirus does not prevent people from going out en masse and ending. Masks that are essential for some sick people and not exactly coronavirus.
To overcome the fear of contagion, you must first do an acceptance exercise. There is something that escapes us in this coronavirus thing, something that we do not have under control, from which arises the that entering the subway and hearing a traveler cough causes us. Fear is actually a defense mechanism, but it stops being useful when it becomes excessive and excessive, when it becomes a phobia.
We can follow the indications of the health authorities in terms of coronavirus prevention, but even so, fear will remain if we do not forget about conspiracy theories and do not shift the focus of attention. We are also suffering from an epidemic of information overload, as if the world had stopped spinning and only the coronavirus existed.
And it is not like that. If you are in a risk group, go to your medical center so that the professionals can inform you about the best way to prevent infection. If you are not in any risk group, think about what you usually do to prevent that tortures you every year.