COMMENT: Hiya Martin
Right here within the UK there’s a worry marketing campaign being waged in regards to the rise in meningitis. Miraculously they’ve the vaccine prepared to save lots of us all!!
Do you consider this could possibly be one other C19?
REPLY: What’s happening within the UK proper now with meningitis is being introduced within the press with the identical tone we noticed throughout COVID, but whenever you strip away the headlines and really take a look at the information, the story turns into very completely different as a result of this isn’t a nationwide disaster however a localized outbreak being framed in a method that amplifies notion past statistical actuality.
The outbreak has been centered in Kent and largely tied to a college and a nightclub occasion, with roughly 27 to 31 whole circumstances and two deaths reported, and whereas officers have described the clustering as uncommon, the broader context is that the UK sometimes data ongoing circumstances annually with England reporting roughly 378 circumstances within the 2024 to 2025 interval, which means it is a recognized bacterial illness moderately than something new or rising.
What is definitely occurring is a localized outbreak of meningococcal illness, primarily the MenB pressure, which has existed for many years and tends to unfold in close-contact environments. It’s not airborne in the best way respiratory viruses are, however as a substitute spreads by way of direct contact. Regardless of that, the response has begun to comply with a well-known sample the place authorities contact tens of hundreds of individuals, increase vaccination applications, and distribute hundreds of antibiotic remedies. Universities transfer actions on-line and warnings are issued about journey doubtlessly spreading the sickness, all of which begins to reflect the behavioral response cycle seen throughout COVID although the size and transmission solely completely different.
The comparability just isn’t in regards to the illness itself however about how the state of affairs is being framed and managed, as a result of throughout COVID, the important thing difficulty was not simply the virus however the fear-mongering propaganda by way of fixed headlines and coverage escalation. Worry is a strong device.
Once you take a look at the precise threat assessments, well being authorities have said that the general threat stays low and that the illness just isn’t simply transmissible. There may be already a longtime vaccine that’s efficient towards the pressure concerned, which additional reinforces that it is a contained public well being difficulty moderately than a systemic risk. The media narrative focuses on probably the most alarming points, resembling deaths, and makes use of language like “explosive” or “unprecedented,” which turns into deceptive when faraway from the statistical info. Governments use public worry to grab extra management, and the cycle repeats.
From the attitude of the Financial Confidence Mannequin, the sort of response aligns with durations the place confidence is declining and governments increase their position in managing outcomes, since public well being supplies a mechanism by way of which intervention could be justified, significantly when uncertainty and worry are operating excessive.
