Shaping pandemic time: science and the urgency of Covid-19

Abstract

The article analyzes how science played a central role in shaping our experience of time during Covid-19 by examining the discursive strategies displayed in the media by key representatives of Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) during the first pandemic year. Seen in Brazil as the embodiment of a longstanding scientific tradition, Fiocruz stood out in the fight against the disease outbreak. In a present filled with uncertainty, its past seemed to offer a solid reference. While reckoning the urgent need for the scientific community to speed up in the race against the virus, Fiocruz representatives argued that this could not be done to the point of undermining science specific processes, based on cautious experimentation and testing.