TY - JOUR T1 - COVID-19 and the creation of a new disease JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 401 LP - 401 DO - 10.3399/bjgp20X712013 VL - 70 IS - 697 AU - James Hibberd Y1 - 2020/08/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/70/697/401.abstract N2 - Disease is more than purely biological. Chemical imbalances, hormone deficiencies, and micro-organisms are filtered through the human experience to create the phenomenon we call a disease. As Charles Rosenberg wrote in his essays on this subject: ‘In some ways disease does not exist until we have agreed that it does, by perceiving, naming, and responding to it.’1Rosenberg argued that patients, families, clinicians, charities, hospitals, professional bodies, insurers, employers, the media, and the government all frame biology in a way that both makes sense to and benefits them.Working for the last couple of months as a GP in one of the ‘hot hubs’ in North London, Rosenberg’s words resonated with me as I watched the emergence of a new disease in exactly the way that he predicted. COVID-19 was framed by the … ER -