Don’t let fears about ‘Indian variant’ stop us thinking rationally about risk

Now that those at greater risk of developing a serious case of COVID-19 have been vaccinated, B.1.617.2 – the ‘Indian variant’ – is less of a danger to the UK. Paul Dolan, Christian Krekel and George Wharton (LSE) argue that the biggest concern is now people whose lives and livelihoods are harmed by lockdowns. These harms are hard to quantify, but no less real.

The Indian variant of COVID-19 may indeed turn out to be a variant of concern. But we must be clear about what constitutes legitimate causes for concern – and recognise some spurious concerns too. “Indian” and “variant” are simply words used to describe the new strain of the virus. And yet behavioural science has shown that our emotional responses to words, as well as our unconscious reactions to them, can play a huge role in determining what we do. We have seen some devastating images coming out of India recently. Naturally, our minds will make the association with them, even if we do not want to. Read more.