The pandemic will never end the way you want it to: ‘It reminds me very much of The NeverEnding Story’ | Fortune

CEID Faculty Dr. Traci Hong weighs in on the public desire for closure on COVID:

“…Cinematic portrayals of pandemics are unrealistic, but it doesn’t stop the public from basing their expectations on them, says Traci Hong, a professor of media science at Boston University.’We generally process information that is packaged in stories more easily and more readily,’ she says. ‘There’s a beginning, drama, and then some resolution that leads to an end. Beginning and end are the bookmarks of the conflict.’

‘People are looking for the other bookmark, basically.’ A lack of a definitive end to the COVID-19 pandemic leaves many searching for one—and ‘if there’s not a definitive end from a government or health agencies, people create their own endings. It’s a natural way for people to make sense of the world,’ Hong says…”

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