Chronics

Sickness in society

The disconnect between people and disease

On March 13, 2020, everything that was considered normal went up in flames. Social behaviors and expectations that had been foreign to much of the world for over one hundred years prior suddenly became widely applicable as the state of American society continued to mold around containing the microbial enemy and preventing further damage. The Covid-19 pandemic took the world by storm -- in more than one sense of the word: 

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1. When infecting the human body, the virus that causes Coronavirus Disease 19 (or Covid-19), SARS-CoV-2, prompts a vicious immune response known as a cytokine storm that floods the body with immune cells to combat this foreign invasion. This immune storm causes various effects on the body, many of which are symptoms typically associated with other serious and potentially fatal diseases and conditions, which goes to show the severity of this viral problem. 

2. Along with the various stages of the pandemic came multiple storms of developing information. What is this virus? What is this disease? How bad is the situation? How can I prevent myself from getting sick? How long will this last? Such questions flooded conversations and internet searches as people became desperate to access information to try and understand what was going on in the world around them. 

3. As the pandemic progressed, the continually evolving informational landscape was met with multiple storms of distrust, dishonesty, and other types of oppositional public responses to how the pandemic was being handled. Public health guidelines were being challenged, false information was being disseminated, and scientific, medical, and other qualified professional opinions were being ignored. 

Storms are, more often than not, considered to be overall negative events. In weather, they can have high winds, precipitation, and maybe even thunder or lightning, and more severe storms could spell mass power outages, flooding, or structural damage to homes and buildings. Alternatively, as an action, someone could storm off after a charged altercation or a group of people could storm a location for a given purpose. In the case of this project, I am using “storm” as a reference to the context surrounding populations that fall into the category of having a chronic disease or condition, as much of the information regarding these populations presents a thorny and treacherous path to the truth.

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Put simply, these individuals are being misunderstood. Between society’s increasing reliance on technology, accessibility to digital platforms, and the internet, which allows anyone to easily publish and/or consume information, the potential for exposure to misinformation and disinformation is higher than ever before. Misinformation refers to inaccurate information that is communicated, regardless of an intention to deceive, while disinformation -- a subset of misinformation -- refers to information conveyed with the intention to deceive. 

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This is the storm that I wanted to chase, analyze, and critique. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us all too well how important the flow of accurate, clear, and concise information can be in understanding fundamental and entirely unavoidable issues that we face in our daily lives. Exposure to disinformation may have been particularly high at the onset of the pandemic, and has only continued to become more widespread; however, as we continue to progress through the pandemic and more verified information about it is properly disseminated, we can inch toward reversing the damage that has already been done. 

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So what does this mean for the populations in question? Why did I feel that this topic warranted an exploration of such depth for a project of this magnitude? In short: misconceptions, misinterpretation, and misrepresentation. People like me who fall into one of these populations have to go about their lives with different, often more complex lenses and filters compared to those who do not. Chronic diseases and conditions are volatile by nature, typically accompanied by ebbing and flowing symptoms that can flare up at the drop of a hat, plunging one’s life into disarray without a moment’s notice. A certain degree of understanding is warranted, but the truth of the matter is that society is falling short of generating, portraying, and disseminating the accurate and necessary information that would help to solidify the relationship between these populations and everyday life.