The “New Flu”: Ontological Insecurity and Pandemic Sense-Making in the US South

Pandemics are inherently disruptive, evoking uncomfortable and unsustainable emotions. We explore the emotional landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic and its normalization among vaccine hesitant residents in Oklahoma. Ontological insecurity reported at the pandemic's outset stemmed from the absence of a clear and resonant cultural script that left individuals to construct narratives in which COVID-19 came to be understood as the "New Flu." Within a backdrop of institutional distrust, participants enacted this narrative through individual health practices. The "New Flu" became a symbol that normalized ontological disruption by transforming the perception of COVID-19 as uncertain and existentially threatening into emotionally manageable.