the corona crisis faces us with new and radical situations in society.
The state to the art procedure is ‘flattening the curve’. An idea that is based on exponential epidemic infection and linear and budget restricted capacities of the health system.
This is an effective strategy with a homogeneous instruction.
Reasoning about risk management could lead to flexible handling of different risks. With the analysis of specific risks it is obvious, that it is impossible to diminish risks. And with managing risks you should be aware, that you have to take a risk in the end.
Covid19 is a virus that is assumed to have a mild course of disease in approximately 80% of infected – mostly younger victims without any other medical conditions. In terms of risk management, infection of younger people is without any doubt a risk – but a smaller one. For older or people with pre-existing conditions the situation faces quite different. They have a high risk of a clinical treatment.
Applying homogeneous instructions to all type of risks is just like treating every patient with the same drug. For the happy group with a mild course of disease the treatment is hard and side effects are high. For high risk group the treatment is not strong enough , but side effects are acceptable.
Taking a small risk for the majority of people – and you should be aware that this is a risk, because not every member of this group will have a mild course of disease – could be connected to a claim of solidarity to the minority of the high risk group.
Managing the risk could lead to flexible instructions to supposed risk categories with different effects and side effects.
In terms of social communication risk management could be other legitimated than just by order – but by solidarity.
image: AdobeStock_241446612 © christopher lizence for dun.can