In the United Kingdom, people and the media liken the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) to the flu, something they are familiar with. Understandably, when humans encounter a foreign agent or an unusual experience, it is easier to put things into known categories, to harness their pre-existing schemas to make sense of the situation. Similar cognitive processing can be observed in Hong Kong and Taiwan, where people experienced Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003. They have responded to the Covid-19 crisis by equipping themselves with hand sanitisers and masks, just as they did 17 years ago.

When I told my UK friends that Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore had intervened to tackle Covid-19 and flattened the curve, they asked me “what did they do to achieve that?”. I replied that South Korea locked down the cities, the governments monitored everyone’s GPS location and, more importantly, testing people who have had close contact with those who tested positive. My UK friends were skeptical of these measures. They replied, “these measures are not possible here”. I emphasized that we must warn the public now, especially when the UK medical system has long been overloaded compared to its Asian counterparts. South Korea is equipped with six times as many medical beds per 1000 persons compared with the UK, and  they still suffered a strong hit. My UK friends turned their back on me, saying “well, there you go.” They attributed the South Korean success in fighting COVID-19 to their superior medical equipment, rather than their decisive and timely measures.

In an individualistic society, people believe in the power of individuals and the pursuit of freedom and self-efficacy, and yet they cannot escape an immense imbalance in locus of control in the face of a crisis like this one. Individualism then finds a way to externalise when the challenges to the individualistic perspective are too great, and the costs are so high.  In the time of climate change and coronavirus, it may seem that there is nothing people can do as the crises have already taken their toll. The helplessness learned from the heartbreaking news is so overwhelming that some might start relinquishing their internal control and forget that there are small changes they can make that are within their control. The fear of losing one’s loved ones and land make normalising distress and helplessness necessary. But it has gone a step too far in the Western world when people have adapted to the point of overlooking the power of the small step and the impact of collective actions.

The flu jab is not as widely promoted by the Hong Kong government as it is compared to the UK and the US because it is common to wear a mask when you are a bit under the weather. Even if we do not have the flu, we play it safe so as not to spread germs. At the onset of the outbreak in Hong Kong, masks were constantly in short supply. People were instructed by the media to queue up overnight to buy a packet of five masks. This was not only because we wanted to protect ourselves, but more importantly, masks were an essential protection for those around us. Coronavirus is transmitted through droplets of bodily fluids, such as saliva or mucus. Clinical cases have shown that patients can be asymptomatic for up to 29 days but still spread the virus. None of us can be certain that we aren’t carriers of the virus without our knowing. We choose to put on a mask to protect those around us.

Protective measures might appear in different guises across the globe, but their nature is the same. Masks are a way for people in densely populated places to practice social distancing. In Hong Kong, this has been proven to work so efficiently that even the flu disappeared without trace last winter. The success achieved by Asian citizens in drastically slowing down the spread of the coronavirus is an exemplar of the positive impact collective actions can make when everyone acts according to the interest of him- or herself and that of others.

Sin Ting Yung & Edith Lee are Trainee Clinical Psychologists on the Leicester DClinPsy Programme