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Is the coronavirus good for our mental health?
Last week, I reflected on the fact that the media (at least in the UK) appear to have forgotten about Brexit and have focused almost exclusively on the coronavirus pandemic. Of course, such a pandemic is worth reporting on the news. However, it appears to have given rise to panic and mass hysteria; for instance, as the coronavirus spreads to the UK, the toilet roll and hand wash demand has risen to unprecedented levels, with the supermarkets notoriously running out of supplies. I personally largely blame the media for this over-reaction. Today, as the number of UK cases of coronavirus has risen to 319 and the number of fatalities to…
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COVID-19: a new case of mass hysteria
Up until the 31st of January 2020, I would wake up every morning to news about the –then-upcoming Brexit. Sadly, this is now a done deal. A bloody done deal, as half of the Brits would say. I live in London, England, and I listen to the news on BBC Radio 3 (in case you’re wondering, BBC stands for British Broadcasting Corporation, and Radio 3 is one of the many radio stations operated by the BBC, but mostly playing classical music). Come February, and most mornings I have been waking up to updates on the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) first reported from Wuhan, China, on the 31st of…