On Virus Rebels and Covidiots
Crazy times! Check out our Self-Isolation Survival Guide Infographic and all our Coronavirus coverage here. Stay safe and don’t forget to wash your hands!
Spending any time on social media? You may have noticed some pretty ticked off people...
#AngryCitizen
Come on, Ohio!
Don’t “make” me break out my “unnecessary” quotes!
The people that these disgruntelled Instagrammers are referring to are affectionately known as Covidiots:
Or, more politely, Viral Rebels, people who are defying travel warnings and physical distancing measures. Oh and there are MANY examples of such behaviour.
Catching the Covidiots in the act!
Why are people failing to social distance in the climate of COVID-19? Isn’t the risk of killing people just by proximity enough to get people to comply?
Yes, I understand that social distancing might be boring and lonely. Yes, I understand that it might be wreaking havoc on the economy to have so many people away from work. But, we are talking about killing people. Or rather, a chance not to kill people from the comfort of our own homes.
The reality is, the sooner everyone self-isolates, the sooner we might be able to get back to reality. The Canadian government is considering legal penalties against those who are not complying, and Italy has charged more than 40,000 people for violating lockdown.
Nobody liked those kids. Don’t be one of those kids.
We need everyone to take action – right now. So maybe a good place to start is looking at reasons why different people might not be complying to social distancing. Let’s take a look.*
*To help tell the story, I’m going to be using personas that represent generic types of non-compliant behaviours. The “Ain’t No One’s Gonna Tell Me What To Do”, the “It Ain’t As Bad As They Say”, and the “Everyone Cheats a Little”. These are, of course, generalizations, but are intended to help with the thought exercise and humour. Enjoy!
Type 1: The ‘Ain’t No One’s Gonna Tell Me What To Do’
Two caricatures come to mind:
The person who went away on March Break ANYWAY, despite government warnings and the warnings from their own corporate executives to avoid non-essential travel (which, by the way, March Break vacation clearly is);
The person who is treating this situation as business as usual, not adhering to social distancing at all, continuing with their normal routines.
Even though you’re outside…
YOU’RE STILL RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER!
Why is this persona flying in the face of governmental warnings and the pleas of their peers? Why are these people increasing the risk of spreading the virus which can result in a higher number of fatalities? Let’s take a look…
Loss Aversion
We hate to lose things. In fact, the pain of losing is twice as strong as the pleasure of gain. People are more likely to take a risk to avoid a loss than to make a gain. This is the central idea of Prospect Theory. Losing $10 is twice as undesirable as gaining $10. And we are more likely to gamble with loss, but when it comes to gains we like a sure thing.
Ex: Situation 1: You won a small lottery at work and gained $10. You can now:
a) Keep the money.
b) Put the money into another lottery with a 50% chance of winning $20 or losing the money.
Situation 2: You lost a bet for $10. You can now:
a) Pay up.
b) Enter another bet with a 50% chance you’ll erase your bet, or have to pay $20.
Most people choose A in the first situation, and B in the second. EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE THE SAME!!
What does Prospect Theory have to do with Covidiots? Not getting a March Break feels like a loss. Especially for parents who have been hanging on for this moment for months, or college kids who don’t want to miss out on the fun with their friends. Will I get my money back? Will I have to waste time making a claim with my travel insurance? Will everyone else go and have so much fun without me? UGH THAT’S PAINFUL.
So why not just take a gamble and go on March Break anyway? We’ll be really careful and wash our hands…
Prospect Theory
MEANWHILE. For people who don’t want to change their routines, loss plays a role as well. Social distancing means definite losses (loss of freedom, loss of access to work, income, seeing friends and loved ones) but uncertain and more ambiguous gains (potentially not transmitting to some stranger that the delinquent might not know or care about, maybe I won’t get COVID-19 but I probably was going to be fine anyway…). Let’s look at this from the point of view of Prospect Theory:
Situation 1: Comply with Social Distancing Protocols.
a) Some chance I’ll make a tiny difference in reducing the spread of the virus to some strangers I don’t care about;
b) Definitely lose income, definitely feel bored and disconnected, definitely risk not paying my mortgage, etc.
Situation 2: Not Comply with Social Distancing Protocols.
a) Some chance I’ll infect a stranger that I don’t know, some chance I’ll get the virus but high chance I’ll be okay;
b) Definitely see friends and loved ones, definitely get my supplies, definitely have an income, etc.
This is made all the more confusing by how messaging from public health officials and politicians keeps changing, evolving, or being totally unclear. This is even further compounded by ego-centric bias, which is when we rely too heavily on our own perspective as a source of information. If we think the trade-off involved in social distancing is too rich (because we feel our own emotions about it very strongly, but maybe less strongly feel the emotions of fearful others or feel less emotions based on the facts coming from the news), maybe not going on March Break or not Social Distancing is the outcome.
Illusion of control
This is a tendency for people to believe they have control over outcomes. An example of this is how people like to pick their own lottery numbers, despite the fact that it is totally random and doesn’t impact the chances of winning. Or throwing coins into a fountain and making a wish. Or any rituals. Having a sense of control over our world – and a sense of personal self-efficacy – is a core component of mental well-being. And with the world facing something as scary as the Coronavirus… well, maybe we all need a little bit more of that sense of control.
As we are still learning about how the virus spreads, this might feel unacceptably uncertain to some. We might wash our hands until they fall off but still get sick somehow. What is under your control, however, is what you choose to do. Choosing to ‘take charge’ and go on March Break anyway… well you certainly have control over that. It might explain why people are taking such a strong stance against Social Distancing or disregarding gentle pleas from the government to cancel travel.
Doctor’s Notes to the officials:
Make the messaging less about loss and more about gain.
There are a lot of silver linings here: an opportunity to work together as a community, an opportunity to spend time at home with your immediate family, maybe an opportunity to work on special projects at home, even. We need to sell the positives to get people to comply.
Emphasize the meaningful things people have – and continue to have – control over. Focusing on the ‘symptoms’, like how you structure your work from home (#WFH) day, how you communicate with people, how much news you are exposed to, etc. Increasing messaging about what people can control might make them more compliant with Social Distancing.
Yes.
Type 2: The ‘It Ain’t As Bad As They Say’
Patient 31. This South Korean woman travelled from Wuhan and, despite warnings from doctors in a hospital she visited that she should get tested because she was presenting symptoms, had contact with 1,160 people. Even though she had a high fever, she travelled to crowded spots, she went to a buffet brunch at a hotel, and attended service at the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Daegu, later to be the site of major outbreak known as the “Daegu Cluster”.
Click the image to check out a video.
Patient 31 had contact with 1,160 people.
Cognitive Dissonance
We have a really hard time holding onto thoughts and beliefs that contradict each other. It makes us feel psychologically uncomfortable. In fact, some people move mountains to make conflicting beliefs ‘make sense’ with each other so they don’t conflict anymore.
I don’t know Patient 31, but perhaps cognitive dissonance played a role in their denial of their symptoms, leading to not taking the proper precautions. The thought of being a carrier of the virus and thus having to quarantine and even be a risk to her life is an uncomfortable thought, to which Patient 31 might have discredited or ignored completely (evidenced by how the doctors suggested she get tested and she wouldn’t even comply with that advice). Yikes.
Doctor’s Notes to officials:
To ease the discomfort of diagnosis to a patient with confirmed COVID-19 (even if they are feeling fine!), the doctors could frame the test in a positive light by saying things like you’ll probably be okay even if you have the virus but you get to fulfill your civic duty and potentially save lives.
Type 3: The ‘Everyone Cheats a Little’
This is the person who posts on Social Media that everyone needs to Social Distance, but then has their friend over to their house for coffee or going out to the bar for St. Patrick’s Day. We see you on Instagram posting about the social times you’re still having, Covidiots!
Get with the program, Joey!
We need everyone to get on board with social distancing. Yes, these people may be supportive, but cutting the corners. What’s going on here?
Status Quo Bias
No one likes change. I get it. There is a lot of inertia in routine. The status quo bias refers to how we have an emotional preference for the current state – the current baseline – and any further change is perceived as a loss. Because we don’t like to be derailed from our comfort zones, we might not be fully committed to behaviour change, or even receptive to discordant information. Even those who are supportive of Social Distancing might slip back to a comfortable routine. Yes, I am working from home, but on Tuesdays Timmy and Jake have a play date so that’s fine. Spoiler: that’s not Social Distancing.
Illusory Superiority
This is a bias where people overestimate their own qualities or abilities in comparison to other people. A classic example is how most people tend to rate themselves as an above average driver. But wait, it’s not statistically possible for everyone to be ‘above average’, so… yeah. People take advantage of loose definitions and instructions to be able to see themselves in a positive light. Kind of like how everyone cheats – but only just a little bit – so they don’t have to update their self-image to include the characteristic of being a cheater.
We have a lot of people pledging their support to the Social Distancing cause (“I am a good person who is helping by Social Distancing!”), maybe even feeling superior to others (“I am better than average at being careful and washing my hands!”), but still going out to get their nails done. They might think they are ‘more careful’ than average. This is likely to jeopardize the full effectiveness of Social Distancing, if a large number of people are ‘mostly’ compliant. We can stamp this out better if we are all 100% compliant!
Doctor’s Notes to officials:
Be very clear on what’s acceptable and what’s not in official communications. Because people are so used to their routines, they might not even know (despite their best intentions) that they aren’t complying with Social Distancing protocol.
Unfortunately, 100% compliance is not realistic. The government and authorities might have to take action to shift behaviour, especially at the beginning so that it becomes clear what is acceptable under Social Distancing protocols. For example, instead of telling people to stop going to restaurants, the more effective policy is temporarily closing restaurants. In parallel, it might be helpful to tell the public what to do right alongside what not to do. Instead of feeling restricted and fixating on the lost access to services or activities, emphasizing hey, check out these amazing food delivery apps! It might not be appropriate for the government to promote specific private sector services, but media outlets most certainly can.
NEW NAME: Physical Distancing
Social distancing sounds soooo unappealing. There is now a push for the practice to be renamed Physical Distancing. This is to emphasize the underlying point of keeping physical distance from others, while avoiding disconnection that could lead to undue mental health strain. Indeed, renaming the practice could help resisters get on board. It might be a wise move as we push for increased compliance.
A final comment
If you’re viewing others not comply with Social Distancing and you feel you need to say something, shaming people into doing something is never as effective as kindness and empathy. What’s more, turn that empathy towards yourself. You might be feeling worry from reading about people actively working against shutting the COVID-19 situation down, and that might make you feel scared. But remember, you can’t control them. You can only control yourself and your own world. Staying home and being responsible is what you need to do right now. And if you are doing that, we thank you!
With a big high five from a distance,
