Do You Need to Wear That Mask?
As concerns over the new coronavirus spread around the world, people have to make basic health decisions. They are wondering how worried they should be about getting infected and what they should do about it.
Some decision can have unexpected results however. For example, because of fears over getting infected, large numbers of people have bought masks to cover their faces. This led United States Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams to write this message on Twitter: "Seriously people – STOP BUYING MASKS"
He noted that masks are not effective in protecting the general public. The masks should be kept available for those who really need them. He added that "if healthcare providers can't get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!"
Different levels of concern not unusual
It is hard to know just how concerned people should be. Someone who lives near an area with many reported cases of coronavirus may be right to be more concerned than someone who does not.
But experts note that people do not only make decisions based on calculations.There are also emotional and psychological influences that play a part.
David Ropeik is an expert on risk who retired from Harvard University in Massachusetts. He said, "Emotions are the filtersthrough which we see facts."
Paul Slovic is a psychology professor at the University of Oregon. He said people's perception of risk can increase so that it becomes different from the advice of medical officials.
For example, less is known about the new coronavirus than the seasonal flu, which is blamed for far more deaths each year. But the new coronavirus is not fully understood and seems to be difficult to control.
Slovic said that because "there is no vaccine that can prevent it" and it spreads easily, news of the disease hurts our personal sense of control. He said our sense of risk increases when we do not feel like we know what to do to protect ourselves.
At the same time, the information that people are getting from the news and social media does not ease their concerns, Slovic said. He noted that reports place attention on people getting sick and dying and not on less serious cases.
To make matters worse, "everybody is telling everybody about it," Ropeik said. This increases the perceived risk.
Vincent Covello is director of the Center for Risk Communication, a business advisory group. He has a list of 17 psychological influences that people consider when they think about risk. For example, he said people worry more when they do not trust the officials or agencies in charge.
People also get more concerned about involuntary things, like exposure to an infected person than voluntary ones, like smoking or spending too much time in the sun.
Ropeik said people can reduce their risk of overreacting by not spreading news of every little development. "Don't just share the scary parts," he advised.
Finally, Ropeik said it is good idea to take a break from the 24-hour news. "Log off, put your phone down, pick up a book," he said.
你需要戴那個面具嗎?
隨著對這種新型冠狀病毒的擔憂在全世界蔓延，人們必須做出基本的健康決定。他們想知道自己應該對感染有多擔心，應該做些什麼。
然而，有些決策可能會產生意想不到的結果。例如，由於害怕被感染，很多人買了口罩來遮住他們的臉。這使得美國衛生局局長傑羅姆·亞當斯博士在推特上寫道:“說真的，人們——不要再買口罩了。”
他指出，口罩並不能有效地保護公眾。口罩應該保留給那些真正需要的人。他補充說，“如果醫療服務提供者不能讓他們照顧病人，就會把他們和我們的社區置於危險之中!”
不同程度的關注並不罕見
很難知道人們應該多關心。居住在有許多冠狀病毒報告病例的地區附近的人可能比不居住在該地區的人更應該受到關注。
但是專家指出，人們不僅僅是根據計算來做決定。還有情感和心理上的影響。
David Ropeik是馬薩諸塞州哈佛大學退休的風險專家。他說:“情感是我們看到事實的過濾器。”
保羅·斯洛維奇是俄勒岡大學的心理學教授。他說，人們對風險的感知可能會增加，因此與醫療官員的建議會有所不同。
例如，人們對這種新型冠狀病毒的瞭解還不如對季節性流感的瞭解，後者每年造成的死亡人數要多得多。但是新的冠狀病毒還沒有被完全瞭解，而且似乎很難控制。
斯洛維奇說，因為“沒有疫苗可以預防這種疾病”，而且它很容易傳播，所以有關這種疾病的新聞傷害了我們個人的控制感。他說，當我們不知道如何保護自己時，我們的風險感就會增加。
斯洛維奇說，與此同時，人們從新聞和社交媒體上獲得的信息並不能緩解他們的擔憂。他指出，報告關注的是人們生病和死亡，而不是不那麼嚴重的病例。
更糟糕的是，“每個人都在告訴每個人這件事，”Ropeik說。這增加了感知風險。
Vincent Covello是商業諮詢機構風險溝通中心的主任。他列出了人們在考慮風險時會考慮的17種心理影響。例如，他說，當人們不信任官員或主管機構時，他們會更加擔心。
人們也更關心非自願的事情，比如與感染者接觸，而不是自願的事情，比如吸菸或在陽光下待太久。
Ropeik說，人們可以通過不傳播每一個小進展的消息來減少反應過度的風險。“不要只是分享可怕的部分，”他建議。
最後，Ropeik說從24小時新聞中休息一下是個好主意。“註銷，放下手機，拿起一本書，”他說。
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Words in This Story
mask –n. something that covers part or all of the face
calculation –n. careful thought or planning through a process
filter –n. a device or process that removes something unwanted
perception –n. the way a person thinks about or understands something
involuntary –adj. not done by choice
scary –adj. causing fear
log off –n. to suspend a connection with a computer network
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