A Moral Panic in Reverse? Implicatory Denial and COVID-19 Pre-Crisis Risk Communication in Canada

Abstract

Background: This article reverses the conventional logic of moral panics. COVID-19 pre-crisis risk communication is conceptualized as a form of implicatory denial that under-reacted to COVID-19 in the three months leading up to the acute phase of the crisis. Analysis: Connections are established among denial theory; infectious disease crisis communication; and the social, economic, and political implications of underreacting to real-world threats over three phases of pre-crisis risk communication. Conclusions and implications: Linking the analysis to the broader literature on the social organization of denial highlights the dialectical relationship between the rhetoric of panic and conditions of implicatory denial.