Why You Might Be Wrong About COVID-19: The Ecological Fallacy
How many coronavirus arguments misrepresent the complexities of society
There is so much coronavirus research coming out every day that it’s hard to keep track of even a tiny bit of it, never mind everything. The same is true for COVID-19 news — there’s just so much new information that it’s hard to stay up to date with it all, no matter how hard you might try.
It’s a bit like fighting a raging wildfire using your SuperSoaker 300. It’s never going to work, and you’ll eventually get burned.
One problem that keeps coming up is something that every scientist knows, but can be very counter-intuitive: the ecological fallacy. It’s present in arguments both for and against masks, it has undermined much of the discussion about vitamin D and coronavirus, and it’s just generally a problem for many of the points made in the media about COVID-19.
So what is the ecological fallacy, and why is it a problem? Let’s dig in.
