Skeptic Check: Pandemic Fear

Contagion aside, coronavirus is a powerful little virus. It has prompted a global experiment in behavior modification: elbow bumps instead of handshakes, hand sanitizer and mask shortages, a gyrating stock market. 

Pragmatism motivates our behavior toward the spread of this virus, but so do fear and panic. In 1918, amplified fear made the Spanish Flu pandemic more deadly. 

Can we identify when we’re acting sensibly in the face of COVID-19, or when fear has hijacked our ability to think rationally and protect ourselves?

Guests:

• Peter Hall - Professor of public health and health systems at the University of Waterloo
• David DeSteno - Social psychologist and professor of psychology at Northeastern University
• David Smith - Virologist and Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health, University of California, San Diego
• John Barry - writer, adjunct faculty at the Tulane School of Tropical Medicine and author of The Great Influenza; The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History

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