The Covid-19 Effect in Cameroon: Between the Deconstruction of Social Relations and the Emergence of New Relational Habits

Abstract

Considered the third world war, the Covid-19 pandemic affects all regions and cities of the world, sowing terror and desolation in its path. The objective of this article is to analyze the impacts of this pandemic on social relations in Cameroon. Socio-historical approaches have been used to understand this phenomenon. Based on in-depth field surveys, this study shows that the methods used to raise public awareness of the harmful effects of this pandemic, in particular through communication (in the streets, in schools, at university, at the market, on television, etc.), the uproar around Covid-19 in Cameroon has not only raised awareness among the population; it also traumatized them, thus creating panic, shame, fear, all crowned with a deconstruction of the relationships between each other. Doomed to failure, the response against the “indisputable destroyer” has social consequences, among which figure prominently: stigmatization, abstention from screening tests for some, refusal to seek treatment for others, and the different representations of Covid-19 and also of people carrying the virus.