SFB 1288
Comparing and Corona
The coronavirus, its spread, the precautions—the world and our everyday reality are currently dominated by the events and reporting around COVID-19. The situation that we are now experiencing "seems to surpass any comparison in a very practical and tangible way in our personal everyday life", writes Johannes Grave (principal investigator subproject C01) in the latest contribution to the SFB blog. He describes the supposed paradox of the situation, often described as 'never experienced before' or 'incomparable', and the simultaneous extreme boom of comparisons—from case numbers to regions to age groups. You can find the article here on the blog of SFB 1288 "The Practices of Comparing" (in German).
Stephan Fasold (subproject B07) and Rebecca Moltmann (Science Communication) invited two researchers from different disciplines to the latest episode of the science podcast "Praktisch Theoretisch" ('Practical Theoretical') on the topic of corona. Together with medical historian Julia Engelschalt (subproject A03) and Oliver Razum, Professor for Public Health, they talk about current issues and concerns such as exponential growth, #socialdistancing, definitions of terms and the view back to the past. Is it possible to learn from earlier epidemics and is the Spanish Influenza of 1918 even comparable to COVID-19? The episode is available via Podigee, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts (in German).
Oliver Razum and Julia Engelschalt, Photo: Rebecca Moltmann