COVID-19 hits all of the cognitive triggers for how the lay public misjudges risk. Robust findings from the field of risk perception have identified unique characteristics of a risk that allow for greater attribution of frequency and probability than is likely to be aligned with the base-rate statistics of the risk. COVID-19 embodies these features. It is unfamiliar, invisible, dreaded, potentially endemic, involuntary, disproportionately impacts vulnerable populations such as the elderly and has the potential for widespread catastrophe. When risks with such characteristics emerge, it is imperative for there to be trust between those in governance and communication and the lay public in order to quell public fears. This is not the environment in which COVID-19 has emerged, potentially resulting in even greater perceptions of risk.

中文翻译：

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风险认知而非证据如何推动了对 COVID-19 的有害政策

COVID-19 触及了外行公众如何误判风险的所有认知触发因素。来自风险感知领域的可靠发现已经确定了风险的独特特征，这些特征允许比可能与风险的基本利率统计一致的频率和概率更大的归因。COVID-19 体现了这些特征。它是不熟悉的、无形的、可怕的、潜在的地方性的、非自愿的，对老年人等弱势群体的影响不成比例，并有可能造成广泛的灾难。当具有此类特征的风险出现时，治理和沟通人员与普通公众之间必须建立信任，以平息公众的恐惧。这不是 COVID-19 出现的环境，可能会导致更大的风险认知。