Allan Lavell. Office of the Secretary General of the Latin American Social Science Faculty (FLACSO), Founding Member of the LA RED (Latin American Network for the Social Study of Disaster Prevention);

e-mail: allan_lavell@yahoo.com

Elizabeth Mansilla Menendez. Research Professor, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), LA RED (Latin American Network for the Social Study of Disaster Prevention) member;

e-mail: elisa_mansilla@yahoo.com

Andrew Maskrey. Chief of the Risk Knowledge Section at UNISDR (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction), Genève, Switzerland;

e-mail: maskrey@un.org

Fernando Ramirez Cortes. Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist, World Bank;

e-mail: framirezcortes@worldbank.org

This document uses concepts developed in the social study of disasters to interpret the social construction of risk to the SARS-coV-2 virus. It examines the construction of three associated risks: to human life; to public health systems and to the economy and argues that, as in other disasters, confusing risk with the virus veils and dissimulates the operation of a range of other underlying risk drivers. It argues that the risk management policies deployed to address the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to a transfer of risk to those who are most exposed and vulnerable to the coronavirus.

Keywords: COVID-19, social study of disasters, social construction of risk, public health systems, risk management policy