Ross: How we’re managing panic during coronavirus outbreak

Here’s what’s great about the internet: You open a search box, you type in the question, “Should I wear a surgical mask?” and you get an article headlined, “Surgeon General Says Don’t Wear Masks” – right next to an ad that says:

“N-95 Mask – Buy Now Limited Stock!”

How prepared are our hospitals for the spread of coronavirus?

No wonder we’re panicking! Fortunately, networks have been running news specials to stop us from panicking by interviewing experts, over a sound track of string instruments playing deep sustained notes:

“When you hear public health officials say ‘everything’s fine don’t panic,’ it runs the risk of being dismissive and actually causing people to panic,” one report said.

Yes it does. But panic can have an upside – I can think of at least three: The freeways are finally wide enough, opposition to paid medical leave has disappeared, and all this cocooning and hand-washing is probably preventing a lot of other germs from spreading too.

Best of all – it may even have led to a health care breakthrough: The Vice President announced that the government will guarantee that virus testing will be covered for everybody, insured or not!

The reason schools close over coronavirus isn’t about students

And no one, not even the President, called it “socialism.”

Besides, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just about empathy for the poor. Watching the stock market tells me empathy for the non-poor may have played a part. But hey, whatever works.

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Follow @http://www.twitter.com/thedaveross