As many others have commented before, there is something different about this pandemic. I suspect the difference lies not just in the specific characteristics of the virus, but also in the period we find ourselves in.
The fear and strain surrounding the virus is less about the actual virus itself. Yes it is potentially deadly to elderly and vulnerable people, and very contagious, but historically - especially if one goes back further than a century - or even contemporaneously - the Ebola virus in Africa comes to mind, though it is less contagious - the virus appears less deadly on its own.
Yes, the virus should be taken seriously. But many of the arguments asserting this have to do with the virus' relational effects in a mass. So, we have death rates go up when hospitals are overwhelmed and there are not enough beds or equipment, and health professionals burn out and become more vulnerable to the virus and are taken out of commission, and then those potential rates go up further because of poor political coordination and botched attempts at tracking and containing the virus, poor coordination which has also resulted in disrupted supply chains, and the cycle continues.
There are a number of other fears that come with this: the fear of spreading the virus to a vulnerable friend or loved one, the fear of hoarding and gouging (also predicated on fear), the fear and loathing of incompetent and exploitative political and economic institutions, and etc. all of which serve to exacerbate the situation further.
So much of the fear is directed relationally: it is the fear of the fear of others. And this is a fear that has been accumulating for quite some time, for various reasons apart from any sort of virus. Now it is only intensified. At the risk of sounding hackneyed, the story of the virus is at the same time the story of late capital and late industry. Of the late modern human experience, and what the human element means and effects.
We could say the C-19 virus is notable for playing its part in effectively transforming the collective psychic landscape of the industrialized world. It is certainly too early to survey just what that transformation is - though one can make some educated guesses based on the general progression of things - but right away one can clearly see that everything has changed.
This globetrotting virus, this "McDonald's" of epidemics (yes, a pandemic) which, as reactive blowback to a highly globalized, integrated, and most importantly, unevenly developed and distributed global economy, is surging back to meet the forces of its opposite and shrink them back.
Greater swathes of the population may now be experiencing something on a larger scale that was previously relegated to regional, class-based, or race-based experiences, that darkening of the horizon recognizable to those who have experienced protracted natural disasters, or human caused disasters such as blighted neighborhoods and flagging local economies, when freedom and creativity of movement dies and the possible avenues of escape close.
I caught a glimpse of it during a particularly severe 2017 fire season in Montana: the months-long haze and choking smoke which persisted as the sun rose and set, which told you - like a casket closing shut - that would be the last of the sun you see for a while, and that vague, timeless, burning, and nauseous malaise would be the best you could do for now, and that you'd better get used to it.
But there are always other ways to live. More to come.
