Winter Fever: From Illness to Social Media Frenzy in Andorra

A winter chill in Andorra has sparked reflections on fever—not just as a symptom of seasonal illness, but as a metaphor for altered states of mind and collective excitement.

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted a familiar yet underappreciated pathogen: one that peaks in virulence during cold months, causing fever, weakness, and in severe cases, worse outcomes. Most people have experienced those telltale rises in body temperature from a common cold or flu, which distort perceptions of the world. Sounds shift—Pink Floyd tracks or Tangerine Dream electronica take on new hues—while reading becomes surreal. One reader recalls discovering Robertson Davies's *Fifth Business* amid mild hyperthermia, forever marking it as a favorite. Haruki Murakami's *The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle* evoked similar disorientation, its recurring well imagery mirroring feverish delirium as medication wore off.

Fever's linguistic reach extends beyond medicine. It describes emotional highs, from the "gold fever" that drove historical rushes to the consumer frenzy persisting even in sales season. Before Antonie van Leeuwenhoek's microscope revealed microbes behind diseases like influenza, 15th-century Europeans blamed epidemics on astral influences—hence the Italian term *influenza*, shortened to "flu" in English and *grip* locally.

This etymology echoes modern "influencer," an anglicism thriving in Andorra. Recently, at Plaça Patalín, a queue formed outside a small, packed venue owned by one such star. Despite freezing temperatures, patrons waited patiently and cheerfully, their enthusiasm overriding the cold. What would have prompted complaints under duress became bearable under the sway of social media allure—perhaps a new kind of fever altering group consciousness. No one caught the flu while waiting, one hopes, but the scene captured how influence can rival illness in shifting reality.