How Cultures Panic. What the Coronavirus Teaches Us.

Longread. Updated 15 March 2020.

It’s 3.57 pm on Wednesday 4th March 2020, at my local Edeka Xpress supermarket in Bogenhausen, a comfy inner suburb of Munich. Before me stands a large stack of toilet paper.

A tall, peaceful, undisturbed stack of toilet paper.

I scour the supermarket to find a shortage of something. UHT milk? Well stocked. Tinned vegetables? Fine. Frozen pizza? Check. And most important, plentiful beer. In Bavaria, confinement at home without beer would be unthinkable.

Contrast this gentle scene with other supermarkets around the world. The press and social media abound with stories of hoarding hysteria. Some nations appear to stay relatively calm — even complacent. Yet others panicked. Why?

Clearly, it’s a matter of culture.

Culture drives our gut instincts. It powers visceral reactions to new situations. It orders our priorities. It tells us what’s right and wrong. It tells us to where to click.

Managing COVID-19 will challenge health authorities across the planet. It’s a global concern, involving healthcare, logistics, government services and new protocols for many private and public behaviours. A response demands greater unified action than the 2008 financial crisis; yet even modest…