To be Paranoid is the Standard? Panic Responses to SARS Outbreak in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was first reported in Guangdong, China in November 2002, followed by an outbreak in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in early March 2003. Public anxiety has been widespread in both SARS-affected and SARS-unaffected regions. Population surveys have shown that about 70 percent of Hong Kong respondents expressed considerable fear about the SARS outbreak. The fear of SARS seems to be stronger and more widespread than the fear of any comparable life-threatening illness. The public reactions of Hong Kong people may be categorized into four distinct patterns: the individual-difference, the public-anxiety, the irrational-panic, and the-fear-of-infection periods. Each of these periods was marked by one or more critical events believed to create mass anxiety among Hong Kong people. The role of the government, mass media, and people in maintaining an “optimal” level of public anxiety—which alerts people to the danger of the disease while preventing irrational, paranoiac behaviors— is discussed.