By Dr. Abdu Sharkawy, Infectious Disease Specialist – University of Toronto (617 words)
“I am not scared of Covid-19, but I am scared about the loss of reason and wave of fear that has induced the masses of society into a spellbinding spiral of panic.” – Dr. Sharkawy
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The coronavirus is here. But fear not.
Mass panic is also here. Fear.
I’m a doctor and an infectious diseases specialist. I’ve been at this for more than 20 years seeing sick patients on a daily basis. I have worked in inner-city hospitals and in the poorest slums of Africa.
HIV-AIDS, Hepatitis, TB, SARS, measles, shingles, whooping cough, diphtheria … there is little I haven’t been exposed to in my profession. And with the notable exception of SARS, very little has left me feeling vulnerable, overwhelmed or downright scared.
I am not scared of COVID-19. I am concerned about the implications of a novel infectious agent that has spread the world over and continues to find new footholds in different soil. I am rightly concerned for the welfare of those who are elderly, in frail health or disenfranchised who stand to suffer mostly, and disproportionately, at the hands of this new scourge. But I am not scared of COVID-19.
What I am scared about is the loss of reason and wave of fear that has induced the masses of society into a spellbinding spiral of panic, stockpiling obscene quantities of anything that could fill a bomb shelter adequately in a post-apocalyptic world. More
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