Biden Thanksgiving speech: We're at war with the virus, not each other
I see this kind of rhetoric quite frequently nowadays. That we are fighting a war, or that the virus is our enemy. This is called the military metaphor, and is fairly common in Medicine. However, it is actually discouraged, since there is evidence that it is harmful. When utilising the military metaphor, it worsens pain scores and psychological well-being - because if the condition deteriorates, it is seen as losing the fight or being defeated, in all likelihood. Similarly, it discourages palliation in extreme cases, as well as wait-and-see approaches, which are sometimes called for. Those are conceptualised as doing nothing in the face of the enemy, or not fighting hard enough - when often, non-intervention might have been the best option.
All in all, it is actually counterproductive to frame our efforts in this light. It is understandable, especially in the light of the politician wanting to look like he is doing something, but we are not opposing a malevolent force here. These are merely viruses, bits of RNA; and while public health measures are required, they need to be considered and measured ones. The military metaphor merely lends itself to hysteria and rushed action, while we chase an imaginary enemy we see hiding in numbers and incidence graphs. After all, we aren't going to 'defeat' this virus, but will just have to learn to get on with it. The only time we actually managed to win our 'war' was with Smallpox (and maybe Polio someday), but Covid will not be another of those, and good evidence suggests we should not be girding our loins for battle, but treating an infection.
I see this kind of rhetoric quite frequently nowadays. That we are fighting a war, or that the virus is our enemy. This is called the military metaphor, and is fairly common in Medicine. However, it is actually discouraged, since there is evidence that it is harmful. When utilising the military metaphor, it worsens pain scores and psychological well-being - because if the condition deteriorates, it is seen as losing the fight or being defeated, in all likelihood. Similarly, it discourages palliation in extreme cases, as well as wait-and-see approaches, which are sometimes called for. Those are conceptualised as doing nothing in the face of the enemy, or not fighting hard enough - when often, non-intervention might have been the best option.
All in all, it is actually counterproductive to frame our efforts in this light. It is understandable, especially in the light of the politician wanting to look like he is doing something, but we are not opposing a malevolent force here. These are merely viruses, bits of RNA; and while public health measures are required, they need to be considered and measured ones. The military metaphor merely lends itself to hysteria and rushed action, while we chase an imaginary enemy we see hiding in numbers and incidence graphs. After all, we aren't going to 'defeat' this virus, but will just have to learn to get on with it. The only time we actually managed to win our 'war' was with Smallpox (and maybe Polio someday), but Covid will not be another of those, and good evidence suggests we should not be girding our loins for battle, but treating an infection.