A pandemic actually had an incredibly vague meaning. It’s been the topic of heated debate amongst epidemiologists for quite a while. You can read this [0] to ge

A pandemic actually had an incredibly vague meaning. It’s been the topic of heated debate amongst epidemiologists for quite a while. You can read this [0] to get a hint of vague it all is, and if you look, you’ll find plenty of different highly qualified perspectives on the topic. The WHO waited until it spread to over 100 countries before it called it a pandemic. This wasn’t because it had crossed a very specific threshold to become classified as one. It was an opinionated decision. It wasn’t supported by a strict technical definition, or academic concensus. Because those things don’t exist. The definition of a pandemic is very simple: > an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people Laymen are perfectly capable of understanding this, and forming their own perfectly reasonable opinions about it themselves. It is perfectly reasonable to criticize the WHO’s decision making around this, and they absolutely don’t have a technical definition to hide behind. [0]: http://www9.who.int/bulletin/volumes/89/7/11-088815/en/ http://www9.who.int/bulletin/volumes/89/7/11-088815/en/