Daniil, it appears you’re making the radical suggestion that we should use data and reason to guide our behavior, rather than simply be stampeded into mass hysteria by sensationalist mass media. That would undermine the entire basis of modern life, in which empty sensationalism dominates and crushes our limited capacity for thought. Shame on you! Rupert Murdoch and all the other media moguls would suffer loss of revenue if ever people attempted to think for themselves and ignore the sensationalist nonsense promulgated by the media. We need to remain in a simple-minded world of black-and-white thinking in which panic has no downside and where stupid behaviors are seen as “responsible.”

Otherwise we might realize we just crippled the world economy and sent 1.5 billion people into poverty and starvation for no good reason whatsoever. That would be deeply embarrassing so it’s far better for everyone (except, of course, those 1.5 billion people but the media isn’t reporting on them so they don’t count) if we continue to believe everything Murdoch & Co tell us regardless of how abjectly stupid it is, and how appallingly harmful our actions have been.

Remember: wearing a face mask means we’re excused from having to attempt that painful and difficult business of thinking.