Coronavirus and Stock Photography

Stock photography is tricky, as I teach my students.

Metaphorical images like this one are often used to picture health and disease. But how to interpret this coronavirus image? The hand signifies “stop” or having the power to push back against something. Here, the hand seems to have the power to stop the virus, destroy it, even. Or is it pushing back, defenseless against a virus that has already exploded/multiplied itself so fast that no one hand (even a white male one in a suit) could stop it?

Images like this confuse more than clarify.

-Cara Finnegan

Photo: Dowell via Getty Images