It seems that as the Coronavirus continues to spread and force things to go into a sort of quarantine mode, many horror fans have been comparing the virus to their favorite horror story scenarios. One such scenario is the main apocalyptic catastrophe in the zombie novel World War Z, and now the book’s author Max Brooks has spoken up about the Coronavirus.
Max Brooks responded to these comparisons while speaking with fans on Reddit, and explained his own take on the idea:
“I think human beings are slow to realize a threat. We instinctually want to deny danger. It’s an ego-defense mechanism. The problem is, if you deny too much, and are caught unprepared, panic sets in. I think we’ve been gutting our global health institutions for too long. In rich countries like the USA, we now take public health for granted. We don’t have that gut-churning fear our grandparents used to have when Polio and other disease raged through the population. This, hopefully, could be a wakeup call for us to spend the necessary money to reinforce our public-global health networks. I’m just so sorry that this wakeup call is coming too late for people who are already sick.”
Max Brooks also offered some solid advice in battling the spread of the Coronavirus:
“We’ve come such a long way. Even now, we’ve got armies, literally, of dedicated public health professionals fighting this world war. We can do our part to help them. That’s why, in WWZ, there’s no one hero. Everyone has a role to play. Just like now. No matter what country you’re in, check in with your local public health department. Check in with WHO. Follow the guidelines. Do what you can, from social distancing to hygiene, to help slow the spread. This is so solvable, as long as we all do our part.”
He then explained that the Coronavirus should be taken seriously, but that it won’t have to be as deadly as some make it out to be as long as we do our part – again, taking it seriously.
“I think the Coronavirus is as dangerous as we allow it to be. This is not the end of the world, but we need to take it seriously, implement measures to curb the spread, marshal the resources of government and industry behind a vaccine and treatment. As regular citizens, we need to think about what we can do: social distancing, washing hands, avoiding crowds, and for God’s sake, stay home if you’re sick! We can’t just think about “can I get it?”, we need to think about “who can I infect?” We have the power to turn this around, but we need to make the right choices.”
While the virus is not at all as dangerous as the zombie apocalypse depicted in World War Z, author Max Brooks does have a rather enlightening and valid take on the Coronavirus.