SUMMARY: It is counterintuitive that something which one cannot perceive in any way, and everyday behaviour which has no apparent harmful consequences, can be dangerous. Some people do not really believe there is a coronavirus, and for this reason do not follow the Guidelines on how not to spread it. My suggested solution is to create a campaign of CGI-enhanced videos “showing” the coronavirus in everyday situations.
SOLUTION: Most Covid is spread through the community by people not following the official Guidelines on how not to spread the infection. Most people who do not follow these Guidelines do not, deep down, really believe that there actions are harmful. Most of these “spreaders” cannot understand (or do not choose to give serious thought to the notion) that something which they cannot see, or in any way perceive, and which has no evident immediate consequences, actually exists. All they know is that so-called authority figures are shouting orders at them (with pretty incomprehensible explanations), annoyingly. They genuinely feel they are not doing anything wrong. However, Seeing is Believing! My suggested solution aims to convince them otherwise by “actually” showing them the Coronavirus, as it were, by means of persuasive video CGI (computer-generated imagery ) campaigns. We have all had experience of being influenced by TV advertisements using clever CGI marketing. I also see the appropriate use throughout the video of a slogan such as “Put on your Covid glasses”. This slogan is persuasive because we all know that when something is not seen too clearly, putting on one’s glasses brings it into focus. The admonition would be voiced suitably, with suitable background music. There would be a number of such videos, supported by a campaign of posters of a particularly powerful scene from the video, in strategic positions. The video would firstly show some unenhanced demonstrative scenes involving people breathing, talking, singing, coughing, sneezing, jogging, etc. Then, having put on our Covid glasses, the scenes now show the Coronavirus haze, exposed slowly, overlaying the previously innocent scene: clumps of a misty haze which, when we zoom into it, reveals the familiar red-spiked spheres of the virus. Also shown in the scenes would be non-infected people breathing, talking, coughing, etc. but emitting only a mild white haze (similar to seeing one’s breath in frosty weather). During this introduction, we can zoom into some infected droplets showing the red virus within them. We then move outside into typical social situations, e.g. passing other people walking along a road, looking into, or going into a restaurant, or bar, or onto public transport. The unenhanced view is shown first, all looking quite innocent and safe, then we hear the slogan “Put on your Covid glasses” and, through CGI, the menacing red haze is slowly exposed, coming from people’s mouths, floating in the air, lying on some surfaces such as hands, cutlery, glasses, or tables, ineffectively meeting the barrier of correctly worn facemasks, or penetrating incorrectly worn ones, and with some of the red haze escaping from a room through ventilation. We are even shown how an extremely small virus infects a person during a very brief moment of carelessness on the person’s part. That such a minute thing, so small as to be invisible, can take advantage of even the briefest of momentary carelessness is made frighteningly clear. Consideration can be given to whether the airborne clumps of virus are shown as droplets, or the size of marbles, golf balls, tennis balls, or footballs, merging together on contact as droplets would. Seeing this video a number of times, reinforced by posters of a particularly effective scene, will eventually build “memories” of having seen actual and credible coronaviruses. Entering a room, the (subconsciously prompted) “Put on your Covid glasses” echoes in the mind, and one views the scene visualising the dangerous red droplets, and haze which they have seen so often before.
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