This article provides a narrative account of one anthropologist's experiences in the field at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The account is based on the researcher's field diary and digital communication, supplemented by online news reports from the period March to May 2020. The researcher's emotional assessments of the risks that COVID-19 posed to herself and others around her stood in sharp contrast to the way her interlocutors in the field responded to the virus. The article makes a case for the empirical value of a researcher's emotions, especially in moments of confusion and feelings of disconnection, in order to understand varying risk perceptions. This article moreover draws attention to the experiences of people living outside the initial epicentres of the pandemic. Many Tanzanians perceived COVID-19 as just one risk among many in their already uncertain daily lives.

本文叙述了一位人类学家在COVID-19大流行开始时在该领域的经历。该帐户基于研究人员的野外日记和数字通讯，并辅以2020年3月至2020年5月的在线新闻报道。研究人员对COVID-19对她本人和周围其他人构成的风险的情感评估与该报告形成鲜明对比。她在现场的对话者对病毒的反应方式。本文为研究人员的情绪（特别是在混乱和脱节的时刻）的经验价值提供了一个案例，以了解各种风险感知。此外，本文还提请人们注意在大流行的最初流行中心以外生活的人们的经历。