On the relationship between science and reality in the time of COVID-19.

Abstract

During a recent medical check‐up in Michigan, I was asked to sign a form that read ‘I know that the practice of medicine is not an exact science and that outcomes may The control of the body as control of reality: ‘Being able to hold your breath for 10 seconds or more without coughing or feeling discomfort DOES NOT mean you are free from the coronavirus’, an important myth linked to a ritual of performance of symptoms and to the hermeneutical capability of reading bodies. The use of food to prevent the unexpected: ‘Drinking alcohol does not protect you against COVID‐19’, ‘there is no evidence [...] that eating garlic has protected people from the new coronavirus’, the myth that certain foods produce a purification of the subject. Science is a fertile terrain of myths. The technological capacity (5G and drones) to track and infect a distant subject, knowledge about the transmission of diseases by mosquitos or the microbial effects of food and temperature produce powerful stories. Myths are events that reveal important ways in which science is used in the narratives that we produce when the history of the present is made so unexpected.