After a disaster such as the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be an irresistible desire toblame others. People will attribute intentionality to actions that were purely accidentaland deem people careless for failing to prevent unforeseeable harms.1 Even assessmentsof causation will be influenced by whether we think someone acted selfishly.2 We willblame our neighbors for going to the grocery store without wearing masks. We willblame those who hoarded pallets of toilet paper. We will blame the Chinese. We willblame the broken health care system. We will blame the physician who ignored ourappeals for a ventilator for our dad. After somuch death, wemay even blame God. Thepost-mortems will frustratingly attempt to identify the cause of this catastrophe, as ifthere were that simple.
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