I'm past the point of caring when pandemic denialists come regret their mistakes, but I am intensely curious about why people come to be a denialist in the first place.
People were in denial during the Wuhan lockdown because China so different from West to start with. But once it hit Italy, there was no logical reason to deny the existence of the pandemic. Understanding how so many people came to believe something so obviously wrong could have some major implications.
And note that the author was denying it in _June_. Like, after New York. June! I mean, there's no helping some people, really. The media has a lot of responsibility here; they were far too passive about pointing out that people were lying about this.
I don't even get why people were denying it during Wuhan lockdown.
Did the fact that they're building not one, but two field hospitals with gear within weeks not give them some clue that shit actually hit the fan, and the only good news is there isn't a lot of direct flights from Wuhan to North America?
I was hearing a mix of higher population density, worse hygiene, expectations of containment, different culture/government, skepticism of Chinese media honesty, and (perhaps most importantly) downplaying by WHO and other experts.
Italy was the nail in the coffin for those... optimistic expectations. Except among the lunatic fringe.
People were in denial during the Wuhan lockdown because China so different from West to start with. But once it hit Italy, there was no logical reason to deny the existence of the pandemic. Understanding how so many people came to believe something so obviously wrong could have some major implications.