Ren SY, Gao RD, Chen YL. Fear can be more harmful than the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in controlling the corona virus disease 2019 epidemic. World J Clin Cases 2020; 8(4): 652-657 [PMID: 32149049 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i4.652]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Shi-Yan Ren, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Surgeon, Vascular Surgery, Department of General Surgery, Aviation General Hospital, 2 Beiyuan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100012, China. rens66@126.com
Research Domain of This Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Article-Type of This Article
Opinion Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Feb 26, 2020; 8(4): 652-657 Published online Feb 26, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i4.652
Fear can be more harmful than the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in controlling the corona virus disease 2019 epidemic
Shi-Yan Ren, Rong-Ding Gao, Ye-Lin Chen
Shi-Yan Ren, Rong-Ding Gao, Vascular Surgery, Department of General Surgery, Aviation General Hospital, China Medical University, Beijing 100012, China
Ye-Lin Chen, College of Robotics, Beijing Union University, Beijing 100101, China
Author contributions: Ren SY designed, drafted, revised, and submitted the manuscript; Gao RD searched for the references for the manuscript; Chen YL searched for the references and generated the figures.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Shi-Yan Ren, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Surgeon, Vascular Surgery, Department of General Surgery, Aviation General Hospital, 2 Beiyuan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100012, China. rens66@126.com
Received: February 12, 2020 Peer-review started: February 12, 2020 First decision: February 16, 2020 Revised: February 17, 2020 Accepted: February 21, 2020 Article in press: February 21, 2020 Published online: February 26, 2020 Processing time: 14 Days and 6 Hours
Abstract
The current corona virus disease 2019 outbreak caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 started in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and has put the world on alert. To safeguard Chinese citizens and to strengthen global health security, China has made great efforts to control the epidemic. Many in the global community have joined China to limit the epidemic. However, discrimination and prejudice driven by fear or misinformation have been flowing globally, superseding evidence and jeopardizing the anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 efforts. We analyze this phenomenon and its underlying causes and suggest practical solutions.
Core tip: The acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 outbreak is a global public health issue. Fear and stigma are growing due to misinformation and unfounded rumors. As a global community, we need solidarity instead of stigma to limit the spread of corona virus disease 2019. Open and transparent information on the outbreak to the global public, and administrative warning from authorities in every country are necessary to reduce fear and discrimination.
