So Much Fear and Questioning : A Comparative Study of Discourses on Covid-19 in Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon

Abstract

Abstract

en Although the Covid-19 disaster predicted for Africa in March 2020 did not occur and, on the contrary, sub-Saharan Africa has remained until today less affected than the rest of the world (if statistics are anything to go by), countries such as Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon have nevertheless been affected by Covid-19 to varying degrees. From the beginning, their governments took drastic measures to curb the spread of the pandemic. These included the state of health emergency, confinement, curfews, school closures, compulsory mask-wearing, and others. Although these measures were not always adjusted to local realities, the infection rate in both countries remains relatively low. Moreover, the small number of cases on the one hand, and the contradictory positions taken by supposedly knowledgeable personalities as well as the controversies over possible treatments on the other hand, have ended up creating confusion, doubt, and distrust within the populations who find their reflections in the discourse on Covid-19.