Forestilte pandemier

Korona i lys av svineinfluensa

Abstract

It has only been 11 years since we last faced a new virus, which spread across the world and led to the implementation of several public health measures to contain contagion. On June 11 2009, the World Health Organization declared A(H1N1) or the swine flu a pandemic, and mass vaccinations were carried out in both Norway and Sweden. Based on 196 responses to a qualitative questionnaire (no. 251) entitled ‘Cold and flu’ developed by Britta Lundgren and I, in collaboration with the cultural archives institution Norweigan Ethnological Research (NEG) in 2014, I discuss in this article respondents’ imaginings of future pandemics. How do they understand the term ‘pandemic’, and where and how do they believe future pandemics may originate and spread? How will they protect themselves and their loved ones against infection? The aim of the article is to look back and compare imagined future pandemics with how these are portrayed in the pandemic preparedness plan informing Norway’s handling of the current COVID-19 pandemic.