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Looking at the Victorian government's punitive deployment of police to the #freethe9blocks do people not realise that they've essentially given people in public housing a logical incentive to spread covid-19 if they believe they might be a carrier?
What I mean is that if someone thinks they might be infected with covid-19 they're not going want to get tested because of the possibility that hundreds of racist police will turn up and lock them inside their flat.
Further if they have a suspicion and are more worried about the cops than the virus (understandable), then if they're community conscious it makes total sense for them to not just avoid testing, but also to relocate elsewhere if they have the option.
This is the reason that organisations like the WHO argue against punishment for people who have tested positive for HIV/AIDS yet spread it.
Because if someone suspects but doesn't know for sure then they have an incentive to not get tested.
Because if someone suspects but doesn't know for sure then they have an incentive to not get tested.
A literature review of disease modelling literature about a decade ago pointed towards a major deficiency: most efforts at disease modelling and subsequent policy didn't take social psychology into account.
There have been moves to rectify this (a bunch of stuff using game theory for example) but I'd argue that the biggest warning about ignoring psychology comes from the ebola outbreak (which was militarized) where whole towns worked to hide their dead for fear of the military.
I've seen the spread of conspiracy theories in groups working together re the blocks.
& it's hard to argue that there's no government conspiracy to use covid-19 as a way to oppress residents when it is being widely used by the police as an excuse for otherwise illegal acts.
& it's hard to argue that there's no government conspiracy to use covid-19 as a way to oppress residents when it is being widely used by the police as an excuse for otherwise illegal acts.
It's the same principle applied to other punitive responses to health issues like alcohol or abortion.
The worst thing for contact tracing/treatment is to threaten people who need medical health.
The worst thing for contact tracing/treatment is to threaten people who need medical health.
A lot of people have expressed surprise at the fact that Victorian cops have given the most fines of any state, while at the same time the spread of the disease has been the most...
But maybe that's not an accident?
But maybe that's not an accident?
If you went to a mad KFC party and got a bit of a cough afterwards, nothing serious but enough to consider getting tested, would you get tested if contact tracing could mean a 26k fine for you and your mates?
