If the coronavirus is dangerous enough to lock people up in their own homes and force them to live like prisoners, then it is also dangerous enough that people would want the full protection of a plague doctor suit or a hazmat suit whenever they have to leave their homes.
The authorities say that protecting yourself with a full plague doctor suit instead of a tiny face mask makes people scared.
But aren’t people supposed to be scared?
I thought that was the entire point of this?
Police have identified a plague doctor prankster who terrified children by walking the streets of Norwich dressed as a 17th century medic as a teenager boy.
The teenager had been spotted strolling past homes in Hellesdon dressed in a long, black overcoat with a wide-brimmed hat and a pointed mask with eye openings and a beak-shaped nose.
This macabre ensemble would have been worn by physicians during the Great Plague of London between 1665 and 1666, which was the last major epidemic of bubonic plague to hit the UK.
The characteristic beak would have been stuffed with sweet smelling herbs like lavender, which were at the time believed to ward off diseases.
But spooked residents in Norfolk complained the mysterious figure was ‘disturbing’ and ‘terrifying’ for children, reminiscent of ‘bring out your dead’ criers who would have transported victims of the bubonic plague away from homes 300 years ago.
Norfolk Police have now unmasked the ghoulish figure as a local teenager who had dressed up as a 17th century plague doctor as a joke.
Officers said they have spoken to the boy about the ‘consequences of his actions’, but he will escape prosecution unless he defies police to continue his display.
A police spokesman said: ‘Officers from the local neighbourhood team have identified the individual as a boy in his late teens.
‘The individual has been spoken to about the consequences his actions may have on some people in the local community and was given words of advice as a result.’
Sightings of the teen, dressed in the black coat and beak-like mask, had prompted both alarm and amusement last month.
One person wrote on social media that the ‘plague doctor’ had ‘scared the life out of my missus’, adding that the costume must be ‘terrifying for kids.’
Danny Buck, a historian at the University of East Anglia, said: ‘The police believe local residents are finding it disturbing.’
If I believed that coronavirus were as dangerous as the government and the media say it is, I’d probably wear a full plague doctor suit too.
I’d also carry around a cool-looking bird, previously trained in the art of aerial assault for personal protection.
But apparently, the government and the media want you to believe that coronavirus is very scary, but not scary enough for you to wear anything more than a face mask.