Censorship and Pandemics: A Case Study of COVID-19 Explorer Pan
is a first-year at the University of Chicago, majoring in astrophysics and is still figuring out other interests/potential second major. Her academic interest lies in the dynamics of black holes and galaxies. On campus, Explorer is a member of the Society of Physics Students and Ryerson Astronomical Society, and she is the movie czar of Coulter House, in addition to writing for SISR. In her free time, Explorer enjoys all kinds of movies (from sci-fi, horror, and action to romance, comedy, and animation), reading literature, and wondering when she could meet an alien.
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THE TRIPLE HELIX Spring 2020
T
he coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, Hubei Province, has directly or indirectly affected the lives of all Chinese people since January of 2019, when the virus started to spread out of control across China. However, this devastating outbreak received little attention before the global news media started to widely report the issue around January 18th, 2019. The reasons for this lack of attention are twofold. From an administrative perspective, the government in Beijing had censored information about the virus, a measure probably aimed at stabilizing people’s moods. At the same time, people were all too occupied with the upcoming Spring Festival to notice a “trivial disease”: they were looking forward to travelling home, reuniting with family members, and celebrating Spring Festival on January 25th. When the outbreak worsened and the news suddenly broke out a week before the festival, the public was overwhelmed. Many cancelled flights and train tickets; few dared to visit family members for fear of contracting the coronavirus. People wondered why this © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.
