Panic, denial, and the search for “magic remedies:” the various social responses to covid-19 in Peru

Abstract

Between March 2020 and March 2022, more than 213,000 Peruvians died of covid-19. In this research note, we will identify and analyze the various social responses to covid-19 in Peru: denial, panic, search for culprits, search for “magic remedies,” and, in some sectors, mistrust towards the State and science. We argue that these social responses have been common throughout history, both in pandemics prior to the development of the bacteriological era and in the most recent ones. We intend to show that, in Peru, scientific ideas around health and disease coexist with religious ideas, conspiracy theories and traditional knowledge.