After the next

The mass media fascination with mass death and mass disease has a long history. But what makes a disease communicable in our culture of media? In this think piece, I argue that the mass media has found in the idea of the next pandemic an ideal opportunity to corroborate its own discursive problematic

O que deu errado: o coronavírus e o mundo após a parada total

This article examines the global response to the covid-19 pandemic. It argues that we urgently need to look beyond the virus if we want to understand the realseriousness of what is happening today. How did we end up in a space of thinking, acting, and feeling that has normalized extremes and is based on the assumption that biological life is an absolute value separate from politics? The author suggests that today’s fear is fueled by mathematical disease modeling, neoliberal health policies, nervous media reporting, and authoritarian longings.Este artículo examina la respuesta global a la pandemia de covid-19. Argumenta que es urgente ver más allá del virus para entender la verdadera gravedad de loque está sucediendo hoy. ¿Cómo terminamos en un espacio de pensamiento, acción y sentimiento que ha normalizado los extremos y se basa en el supuesto de que la vida biológica es un valor absoluto separado de la política? El autor sugiere que el temor actual es alimentado por los modelos matemáticos de la enfermedad, las políticas de salud neoliberales, los informes nerviosos de los medios y los anhelos autoritarios.Este artigo examina a resposta global à pandemia covid-19. Ele argumenta que é urgente olhar além do vírus para entender a verdadeira gravidade do que estáacontecendo hoje. Como acabamos em um espaço de pensamento, ação e sentimento que normalizou os extremos e se baseia no pressuposto de que a vida biológica é um valor absoluto separado da política? O autor sugere que o medo atual é alimentado por modelos matemáticos da doença, políticas de saúde neoliberais, relatórios nervosos da mídia e anseios autoritários

Silver linings: a qualitative study of desirable changes to cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction: Public health emergencies and crises such as the current COVID-19 pandemic can accelerate innovation and place renewed focus on the value of health interventions. Capturing important lessons learnt, both positive and negative, is vital. We aimed to document the perceived positive changes (silver linings) in cancer care that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify challenges that may limit their long-term adoption. Methods: This study employed a qualitative design. Semi-structured interviews (n = 20) were conducted with key opinion leaders from 14 countries. The participants were predominantly members of the International COVID-19 and Cancer Taskforce, who convened in March 2020 to address delivery of cancer care in the context of the pandemic. The Framework Method was employed to analyse the positive changes of the pandemic with corresponding challenges to their maintenance post-pandemic. Results: Ten themes of positive changes were identified which included: value in cancer care, digital communication, convenience, inclusivity and cooperation, decentralisation of cancer care, acceleration of policy change, human interactions, hygiene practices, health awareness and promotion and systems improvement. Impediments to the scale-up of these positive changes included resource disparities and variation in legal frameworks across regions. Barriers were largely attributed to behaviours and attitudes of stakeholders. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to important value-based innovations and changes for better cancer care across different health systems. The challenges to maintaining/implementing these changes vary by setting. Efforts are needed to implement improved elements of care that evolved during the pandemic

The Semiotics of Security: Infectious Disease Research and the Biopolitics of Informational Bodies in the United States

Uncorrected proof. Supplemental material: http://www.culanth.org/?q=node/541In this article, I investigate the biopolitical economy of security as it is operating today in the United States in the context of infectious disease research. Drawing on my work with influenza researchers, I specifically show how experts have been concerned not only with the circulation of biological matter but also with the exchange of scientific information. I argue that it is a specific logic—the logic of iterability—that is at the heart of the growing concern with “sensitive information” published in scientific journals. How has the concern with sensitive information affected infectious disease research in the United States in the past few years? How has the logic of iterability reconfigured microbiological notions of the normal and the pathological? And what might an anthropological analysis of the biopolitical economy of security be able to tell us about the ways in which “life” is made a new political concern today?Funding for this research was provided by the Swiss National Science Foundation