All these factors let us better understand what happened.
The media, health organizations and general public fixation on one topic, the resulting insecurity
and the aura of looming disaster ensued disproportionate response that disrupts normal operation
of hospitals more than the inflow of new patients.
We can see more clearly the mediator variable now.
• Obsessive focus on a single pathogen caused the change of people’s behavior and rules, the
overall disruption
• The disruption contributed to health care system overload
Specific claim
The virus caused a disaster in Ecuador, where corpses are lying on the streets and 450 bodies were
registered on the waiting list to be removed from the houses [10, 3].
Undoubtedly the situation in Ecuador is critical, but what is the cause?
In statistics, there are a few methods of checking if the hypothetical variable is valid. One of
them is to forget about the original cause and test if the last link in the chain makes sense. For
the Aztecs reformers, it would be helpful if they hadn’t noticed the eclipse and looked at things
happening on Earth as they really were.
Let’s do the same in 2020 and imagine we know nothing about the virus or pandemic. We are
looking at Ecuador, the country inhabited by 17 million people with average death rate 5.2/1000
(2020 estimated) which gives 88,400 deaths per year or 242 deaths per day.
Imagine that one day the government decided that non-essential activities are to be stopped,
by a decree made public services dysfunctional, introduced the curfew, and made funerals effec-
tively banned. Additionally the government found some reason to incite fear and panic, endorsing
alarmist claims about some unfathomable danger, with prime minister advising ”not to have a
false sense of security, because everyone can get it” [27] and the president threatening anyone who
leaves home with 3 years of jail [25] The police backed his words by arresting over 1,500 people for
breaking the curfew and scaring the population to the level that people are afraid to do anything,
touch anything, and the last thing they might want to do, handle the bodies of their deceased
relatives [9]. This is exactly what happens in Ecuador since March 12th when the government
entered the scene with new legislation. What kind of output should we expect two weeks later?
How Ecuadorians are supposed to deal with the deceased? What other thing can they do than to
leave the coffins in the streets?
The mediator variable here is the government actions which are the real cause of the crisis. If
anyone thinks that the cause of actions of Ecuador citizens can be traced back to coronavirus, then
rightfully it may also be traced back to solar eclipse or Big Bang.
2.8
Nosophobia
Nosophobia is an irrational fear a specific disease that leads to obsessive behaviors. What differ-
entiates it from hypochondria is that the individual doesn’t think they are sick at the moment.
Nosophobes are very attentive to their diet, pollution, radioactivity, electromagnetic waves, etc.
They are vigilant in preventing any possibility of contamination, they take extreme measures to
avoid contact with germs, and are fascinated by the field of medicine. Their lifestyle is guided by
a desire to live in a sanitized and safe world.
Nosophobia has been described over 50 years ago and was frequently reported in medical stu-
dents, who perceive themselves to be experiencing the symptoms of a disease that they study.
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