COMMENT | Friends are doing it. Some family members too. Asked why they are stocking up on toilet paper, many are stumped in explaining how a respiratory disease will affect their defecatory functions.

Social media posts shared by well-meaning friends of long queues scrambling for bottled water, pasta and instant noodles further whip up a hoarding frenzy. Panic buying leads to a perceived shortage of certain products, which jack up the prices. Anxiety over further shortage leads to more panic buying, further price hikes – and unsightly squabbles among shoppers.

An unknown dramatic public health crisis understandably draws a dramatic global response. Hence, the simmering public fear leading up to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s announcement of a partial lockdown and travel bans.

Since the SARS-like virus was first reported to have started from a wet market in Wuhan, China, last December, the media have been saturated with Covid-19 news. There are as many medical-based reports of its symptoms and infection rates as there are speculative stories on how the virus will contract the economy and sever the supply chain from China.

Constant media coverage of an epidemic does influence how we perceive an existential threat, how we view our health, interpret the symptoms, and gauge our daily needs. The more frequent the disease is reported, the more severe and contagious it is, we feel...