Common truisms I’ve heard (especially in Feb-March, but still occasionally these days) is that “worry and panic is worse than the disease itself” or that “the most important messaging during a pandemic is “don’t panic.”″
But when I look at historical examples of actions during pandemics, it was hard to find *any* examples of lots of additional people dying or a pandemic otherwise made much worse by excess panic, while it was comparatively common to find examples of pandemicsmademuchworse by insufficient worry (NunoSempere has a list here).
If there are historians or history buffs among this group, I’d love to see people provide counterexamples illustrating when excess panic makes pandemics much worse.
[Question] Are there historical examples of excess panic during pandemics killing a lot of people?
Common truisms I’ve heard (especially in Feb-March, but still occasionally these days) is that “worry and panic is worse than the disease itself” or that “the most important messaging during a pandemic is “don’t panic.”″
It’s relatively easy for me to find examples of significant potential harms of excess panic (eg, anxiety, agoraphobia and other psychological issues, fear of going to a hospital for other emergencies, racially motivated or otherwise outgroup violence).
But when I look at historical examples of actions during pandemics, it was hard to find *any* examples of lots of additional people dying or a pandemic otherwise made much worse by excess panic, while it was comparatively common to find examples of pandemics made much worse by insufficient worry (NunoSempere has a list here).
If there are historians or history buffs among this group, I’d love to see people provide counterexamples illustrating when excess panic makes pandemics much worse.