Ross: Fear of coronavirus will be what keeps us alive

Politicians have been using the war metaphor to help us through this crisis, with adages talking about how we are strong, courageous, do not give in to fear.

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!” is essentially the thesis of these calls.

Well, that might be true once there’s a vaccine. But right now, I would argue that it is a recipe for failure.

This isn’t a war. You can’t intimidate nature. This isn’t even a skirmish. We’re up against an infectious disease, and the way biology works is either you follow the rules, or you lose.

And with this particular disease, too often what doesn’t kill you makes you weaker, and then it kills you.

When you’re up against the forces of nature, the only rational approach is humility. And fear is your friend — it’s what keeps you alive.

We’re surrounded by an extremely contagious and potentially fatal virus spread by people who look healthy. For life to get back to normal, we need to be scared enough to wash our hands way more often than seems rational, to not touch our faces, and to wear a mask that’s going to get uncomfortable and fog up our glasses.

I would argue that while courage has its place, the only thing that is going to convince all of us to do all those annoying things day after day after day is the fear of what will happen if we don’t.

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