Yesterday my brother, who works for a large organization in South Korea, sent me a picture of the entrance to his workplace gym, criss-crossed with black-and-yellow “keep out” tape. It’s part of his company’s policy to decrease human contact in the face of the coronavirus outbreak. He and his colleagues have also been told to switch their daily start times to avoid peak-use hours on the subway, and schools across the country will start a week later than usual.
Meanwhile the US president told reporters his view of the outbreak: “I think that is a problem that is going to go away.”
Risk-communication experts Jody Lanard and Peter M. Sandman, members of the World Health Organization’s SARS Scientific Research Advisory Committee, explain in this excellent letter that it’s past time to warn the public—the global public, including Americans—of the precautions and behavior changes they may have to undertake soon. A public heads up makes us safer; pretending there’s no risk puts us in more danger.
There’s practical advice for both governments and individuals here. On the latter front: Keep your hands off your face and practice the “Ebola handshake,” an elbow bump.
Elisabeth Eaves
While travel writing was my first literary love, I’m also a journalist, essayist, science writer, editor, and fiction writer. I was born and raised in Vancouver, lived in Cairo, London, and Paris, spent 10 years in New York City, and now reside in Seattle.