How would life be like if we hadn't known about the coronavirus?

In times of crisis and uncertainty, there is always the impulse to look for explanation and to try to get to the root of our problems, partially because this is how we hope to solve them and partially because we want to blame someone for what is happening to us.

Not surprisingly, nowadays many theories are circulating about where the novel coronavirus actually came from as, to many, the official explanation that it was transmitted from an animal to a person seems far-fetched.

I am not going to argue about this as there are plenty other people out there who have the time and inagination to develop theories and, who knows, maybe with their help we will one day know for sure where the virus originated from.

What I want to focus on, instead, is an imagination exercise we can all take. Let's imagine how the workd would have looked like if the coronavirus topic hadn't been so widely promoted and if the WHO hadn't declared a pandemic at the beginning of March.

If all countries had been left to handle the health crisis on their own and if they hadn't been so influenced by the devisions and restrictions neighboring states have put in place, would it have been better?

Many businesses could have been saved from closure and potential bankruptcy and people wouldn't have felt the crisis so acutely, at least not financially. In fact, the economic effects of the pandemic are likely to last longer than the health crisis itself.

Many vulnerable peole who already suffer from anxiety and depression could have been spared from the extra amount of fear and concern caused by the ongoing restrictions, bu even more so, by the fact that all you hear about when turning on the TV and browsing on social media is related to the coronavirsu number of cases and fatalities.

On the other hand, in the absence of strict regulations, many more people would have gotten sick and many would have died at home as hospitals wouldn't have had the capacity to treat them (in many parts of the world they already lack this capacity, despite the stay-at-home orders imposed by governments).

All in all, without an official pandemic being declared, and without so much mass media frenzy on this subject matter, the public health systems would still have had take a great hit, however, we might have been in a better position e economically and psychologically speaking.

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