COVID-19 Online Medical Consultation: Understanding the Affective Practice

Abstract During the outbreak of coronavirus disease (2019) COVID-19, many online medical consultation (OMC) platforms in China set up a section for the public to consult with doctors about COVID-19 disease. This study explores the COVID-19 OMC discourse, focusing on the affective dimension. The present study examines COVID-19 OMC interactions between doctors and inquirers. It finds that the inquirers’ negative emotions are implicitly expressed through epistemic expressions which can be heard and responded to with respect to emotion by the doctors. Another major finding is that by making use of deontic and epistemic expressions, the doctors provide empathic responses; or, in other words, they ascribe emotional stance to inquiries that involve no explicit emotional expressions. This study can contribute to a new perspective for studying affective engagement in doctor–patient interactions, particularly in emerging infectious disease communication between doctors and patients/caregivers in the OMC context.