Representations of the COVID-19 Crisis in Argentina

In: Latin American perspectives, Band 50, Heft 4, S. 228-247

Abstract

The initial search for a strategy to contain the COVID-19 in Argentina took place in a context of political agreements and strong social support. However, this climate of cooperation and consensus was short-lived, and the authorities were soon forced to turn to mitigation strategies. Emotional and ethical-moral considerations gradually displaced a rational, scientific approach to fighting the pandemic, and social representations of it became increasingly impervious to evidence. The results of this defeat of the precautionary principle were an unnecessarily large number of deaths and the undermining of the notions of community responsibility, rights, and mutual obligations. La búsqueda inicial de una estrategia para contener el COVID-19 en Argentina se dio en un contexto de acuerdos políticos y fuerte apoyo social. Sin embargo, este clima de cooperación y consenso duró poco, y las autoridades pronto se vieron obligadas a recurrir a estrategias de mitigación. Las consideraciones emocionales y ético-morales desplazaron gradualmente el enfoque racional y científico para combatir la pandemia, y las representaciones sociales de la misma se volvieron cada vez más impermeables a la evidencia. Los resultados de esta derrota del principio de precaución fueron un número de muertes innecesariamente grande y un deterioro en las nociones de responsabilidad comunitaria, derechos y obligaciones mutuas.