The institutional machinery of expertise: Producing facts, figures and futures in COVID-19

Abstract

This paper examines the sociological importance of expert knowledge in the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this expertise, it is possible to follow patterns of infections, fatalities and recoveries almost in real time, and this knowledge is crucial for countries when deciding on relevant governmental strategies to control the spread. The paper stresses that there was a strong institutional machinery of expertise for data production and dissemination, and despite rather different national ambitions in detection strategies (both concerning infections and mortalities), this machinery produced facts and figures as though they were measured uniformly.