The COVID-19 crisis has thrown a spotlight onto the lifeand-death stakes attached to how we humans know about ourselves, and what we know other humans to be. One might argue that the pandemic has recreated epistemological anxieties, ontological uncertainties, and methodological divisions. This section of the book will unpack some of these issues, tracing how the images, metaphors and models used by scientists and media, as well as the choices made by policymakers, are affecting how we are thinking about and experiencing the pandemic.