scholarly journals Bits of Falling Sky and Global Pandemics: Moral Panic and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

2005 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Muzzatti
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Common Cold ◽  
Moral Panic ◽  
Critical Criminology ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Common ◽  
Sociology Of Health

Whether it's a story about crime, the weather, politics, Hollywood celebrities, or public health, sensationalistic and exploitative coverage is a media staple. The mass media's coverage of the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in the spring of 2003 was no exception. The media's construction of the source, virulence, and transmissibility of this disease, a previously unknown cousin of the common cold, diverged considerably from its medical realities and contributed to a widespread though short-lived moral panic. Drawing on work in the areas of the sociology of health and critical criminology, this article explores the claims-making activities behind the SARS “epidemic.” Specifically, it addresses how threats to the public well-being are manufactured by the media and how these threats draw upon past and present cultural myths of dangerous “others” and contribute to unwarranted public fear, intolerance, and distrust.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Llano
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Social Conflict ◽  
Musical Performance ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
Musical Practices ◽  
The Media ◽  
The City

As is described in this conclusion, more than the media and culture, Madrid’s public space constituted the primary arena where reactions and attitudes toward social conflict and inequalities were negotiated. Social conflict in the public space found expression through musical performance, as well as through the rise of noise that came with the expansion and modernization of the city. Through their impact on public health and morality, noise and unwelcomed musical practices contributed to the refinement of Madrid’s city code and the modernization of society. The interference of vested political interests, however, made the refining of legislation in these areas particularly difficult. Analysis of three musical practices, namely, flamenco, organilleros, and workhouse bands, has shown how difficult it was to adopt consistent policies and approaches to tackling the forms of social conflict that were associated with musical performance.

scholarly journals How Loud and Clear Rung the Alarm Bell: The Communication Efforts of WHO on the Beginning of COVID-19 Outbreak

2021 ◽  
pp. 002073142110249
Author(s):  
Huriye Toker
Keyword(s):  
Risk Communication ◽  
International Development ◽  
International Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Releases ◽  
The Media ◽  
Credible Information ◽  
Health Organization

As seen clearly from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, health is an important foreign policy and diplomatic issue connected with security, economic well-being, and international development. According to risk communication researchers, effective, transparent, and timely information sharing is the most important tool after vaccines for responding to pandemics. This study aims to start a scholarly discussion on the risk communication efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO) during the COVID-19 outbreak. We analyzed WHO’s communication efforts during the first 3 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the leading international health organization, WHO was responsible for providing rapid, up-to-date, and credible information for the public and the media. The selected research items were 42 news releases and statements provided by WHO between December 31, 2019, and March 30, 2020. These were subjected to qualitative and quantitative content analyses using the NVivo 12 qualitative analysis software program for coding. The data were coded under 6 variables (date of publication, topics, frequency, wording of the COVID-19 outbreak, sourcing, and themes of the releases). While 54.7% of WHO's communications were devoted to the COVID-19 outbreak, more than half were not issued until March. That is, instead of early risk communication and clear warnings about the outbreak, WHO acted overcautiously, preferring messages related to solidarity and cooperation during the most devastating pandemic of the 21st century.

MAKE IT PLAIN: COVID-19 AND HOW FUNDAMENTAL CULTURAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT HOW VIRUSES WORK CAN SPREAD INFECTION AND HESITANCY

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-22
Author(s):  
T.S. Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Common Cold ◽  
The Public ◽  
Simple Question ◽  
Health Complications

Abstract It is confusing: many common colds are caused by coronaviruses, but not all coronaviruses cause colds. Some, like SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, can cause serious health complications and death. To reduce the risk of the public innocently (and understandably) conflating COVID-19 with the mild sicknesses associated with a common cold, one job of public health would need to be to “make the familiar strange and the strange familiar.” But wait, that is the work of anthropology. I argue that what is missing from many public discussions of COVID-19 is a straight answer to a simple question central to the public’s uptake of science, health guidelines, mandates, and even vaccines: “How do viruses work, that is, infect our cells and make us sick?” The essay that follows attempts to answer this question, contributing to public health by making a critical anthropological distinction between “sickness” and “infection.”

Covid-19 And Sudden Death with Pulmonary Manifestations- A Case Report

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Case Report ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Sudden Death ◽  
Common Cold ◽  
Respiratory Symptoms ◽  
Transmission Dynamics ◽  
Pulmonary Manifestations ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Common ◽  
Virus Strains

Covid 19 being a pandemic has uniformly and bizarrely affected the globe in a most unpredictable manner. So it becomes very important to unravel the transmission dynamics and the effect of the virus which has made it a deadly virus so far. Covid 19 is a member of coronavirus family, which also includes the SARS virus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Symptoms) virus. The family of Coronavirus includes virus strains that the common cold and flu are caused [1].

scholarly journals Patching up the differences: An exploration into Whanganui gang identity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Feona Sayles
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Moral Panic ◽  
Gang Violence ◽  
Online Newspapers ◽  
The Public ◽  
District Council ◽  
Group Identities ◽  
The Media

<p>The District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Act 2009 (‘Gang Insignia Act 2009’) came into force in 2009 and prohibited the ‘display’ of ‘gang insignia’ within ‘specified areas’ of the Whanganui District. The purported aim of the legislation was to reduce intimidation of the public and confrontations between gangs. There was no requirement for intent on the part of the wearer of the insignia. This made the Whanganui gang insignia ban unique in terms of criminal law as it maintained that harm was inflicted due to group identity rather than specific conduct. This raises the question of how an identity can be constructed so that it is considered capable of causing criminal harm. To address this question, this research looked at the ways in which the media contributed to the construction of gang identity during the period of 2004 to 2013. This was achieved through (1) a content analysis of reports from three print newspapers and two online newspapers, (2) a content analysis of reader interactions with the reports, and (3) a textual analysis of two print newspapers. The research was guided by moral panic theory so looked for ways in which the events related to stages or elements of moral panic. The focus of the moral panic was also expanded so as to explore the overall context operating at the particular time. It was found that the events did correspond to a moral panic model and that whilst the panic was triggered by key occurrences of gang violence, the underlying motive for the panic could be attributed to racial tensions, penal populism, and the use of a terrorist frame. Whilst this research focuses on the construction of gang identity, the techniques used by the media can be applicable to other group identities.</p>

scholarly journals Advancing environmental public health in Latin America and the Caribbean

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Marcelo Korc ◽  
Fred Hauchman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Leadership Role ◽  
The Public ◽  
Environmental Public Health ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Health And Well Being

This paper highlights the important leadership role of the public health sector, working with other governmental sectors and nongovernmental entities, to advance environmental public health in Latin America and the Caribbean toward the achievement of 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 3: Health and Well-Being. The most pressing current and future environmental public health threats are discussed, followed by a brief review of major historical and current international and regional efforts to address these concerns. The paper concludes with a discussion of three major components of a regional environmental public health agenda that responsible parties can undertake to make significant progress toward ensuring the health and well-being of all people throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

Epidemiological Forecasting: A Crystal Ball for COVID-19 and Future Pandemics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saketh Sundar ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Disease Control ◽  
Crystal Ball ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Us ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
The Media

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, headlines ranging from “Coronavirus forecasts are grim: It’s going to get worse” to “Covid-19 cases and deaths in the US will fall over the next four weeks, forecast predicts” have dominated the news (Achenbach, 2020; Kallingal, 2021). The weekly-published Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 forecasts have become the go-to forecasts for the media, the public, and various levels of government (Cramer et al., 2021). These projections, generated from epidemiological forecasting, not only inform the public’s caution towards the pandemic but are also crucial for officials to create public health guidelines and allocate resources in hospitals (Gibson et al., 2020). But where do these predictions come from?

The UK COVID-19 contact tracing app as both an emerging technology and public health intervention: The need to consider promissory discourses

2021 ◽  
pp. 136345932110607
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Samuel ◽  
Rosie Sims
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Public Health Intervention ◽  
Health Intervention ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sociology Of Expectations ◽  
Short Period ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Uk

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) COVID-19 contact tracing app was announced to the British public on 12th April 2020. The UK government endorsed the app as a public health intervention that would improve public health, protect the NHS and ‘save lives’. On 5th May 2020 the technology was released for trial on the Isle of Wight. However, the trial was halted in June 2020, reportedly due to technological issues. The app was later remodelled and launched to the public in September 2020. The rapid development, trial and discontinuation of the app over a short period of a few months meant that the mobilisation and effect of the discourses associated with the app could be traced relatively easily. In this paper we aimed to explore how these discourses were constructed in the media, and their effect on actors – in particular, those who developed and those who trialled the app. Promissory discourses were prevalent, the trajectory of which aligned with theories developed in the sociology of expectations. We describe this trajectory, and then interpret its implications in terms of infectious disease public health practices and responsibilities.

Online Opinion Leaders in the Health Promotion Digital Era

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-309
Author(s):  
Joyce Cheah Lynn-Sze ◽  
◽  
Azlina Kamaruddin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Opinion Leader ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Opinion Leaders ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Public

Health opinion leaders have widely embraced social media for health promotion and public health communication which can make a strong influence on the public decision making. However, despite the growing relevance of public health threats such as infectious diseases, pandemic influenza and natural disasters, research has paid little attention to the qualities of opinion leaders. Moreover, there is limited evidence that public health organisations use social media appropriately to engage in meaningful conversations with audiences. Thus, the aims of the study are to describe principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders to promote health issues, to discuss the strategies of social media used, to explain the opinion leaders’ influence attributes in health decision making and finally to develop a model of online opinion leader in the contemporary health promotion era. Content analysis was conducted on Facebook postings of five selected health opinion leaders. In addition, semi-structured interviews with 10 followers were conducted. The findings of the study revealed that there are three principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders, which are language, interaction and themes. There are three strategies opinion leaders use to influence the public: social connectivity, social support and social consultation. Furthermore, there are five opinion leaders’ attributes that influence the public’s decision making, namely personality, authenticity, trust/credibility, professional knowledge and social position. The model would be beneficial in educating and guiding the current public health opinion leaders in order to establish health and social well-being. Keywords: Online opinion leader, online health communication, public health, two-step flow theory, decision making.

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