Here are some possibilities I can think of:

• It’s a sensitive topic because it’s so deadly, so people try not to sully the mood by mentioning it for no reason, especially if it’s media for entertainment like a Twitch stream or music

• If they’re on platforms like YouTube, mentioning it might get their content demonetized or removed, even if it doesn’t spread misinformation. If they’re signed with a record label, publisher or even a sponsor, they might specifically not be allowed to mention any sensitive topics.

• They’re trying to avoid attracting crazy commenters, like the people who think it’s a hoax or the vaccine is designed to install microchips in people or something (this might because they don’t want to give those a people an excuse to spread their propaganda, but could also be out of selfishness so as not to lose viewers that think that way)

I’ve heard podcast hosts talk about this. Evidently most listeners would rather not hear about it all the time.

I wonder if this attitude depends on how well one’s local society is handling it. Here in the US it’s really depressing, for instance. (To me, anyway)

Oh man there’s this show my family and I like to watch called La Rosa De Guadalupe and I was incredibly surprised to see an episode all about COVID-19. In fact, the episode was specifically about the struggles of a working class Mexican family has to face because of the pandemic.

Partly censorship, but I don’t mean it to sound as strong as it does. You’re going to get flagged on Youtube, Facebook or Twitter by algorithms intended to prevent profiting from the pandemic or misinforming people, but also tend to flag normal people. Some channels I watch will acknowledge it but are careful to avoid saying “Corona,” “Covid” or other similar terms, instead opting to say “pandemic” “virus” or “this situation” or other vague terms that make it clear, even medical channels that are explicitly making content about it.

In other forms of media, I think it’s to avoid being dated. If this pandemic is resolved globally by the end of the year, it’s still only two years out of a decade. Constant references to “The Pandemic,” “Covid-19” or other such things will result in your media being extremely dated in even fifteen years, unless it’s somehow related to your story. Sort of like bad comedy movies that make constant references to flash-in-the-pan celebrities who had their fifteen minutes of fame.

Everybody else also sort of hit it with not bringing the mood down, and even it being a divisive topic, at least in some countries, and obviously the fatigue that comes with dealing with a global crisis for what’s going to be at least a year and a half when it resolves.

It doesn’t. I see it mentioned everywhere literally non-stop.

i think it’s not likely to come up in most popular music but i have heard hip-hop lyrics that reference it

someone pointed out that any movies/tv that take place in the “present” now take place in alternate realities where covid-19 never existed

In France, there was a push for a lot of comedy sketches on the national TV etc that dealt with the pandemic during the first lockdown. It was mostly unfunny, IMO. So I think it’s just not popular. I’ve also seen a lot of parody or even original french songs but not that many English ones (with a couple of exceptions like the Bobi Wine one). Actually, the best representation has come from Shameless, a US TV show about a poor family in Chicago. They are talking about it, wearing masks etc. I think stuff like Reality TV or “fictional” reality TV (don’t know the word for this but I mean for things like Coronation Street or Eastenders, Plus Belle La Vie, Un si Grand Soleil…) that will have to deal with it because they are not really planing on selling the show down the road plus are based in the same year as when the show comes out.

Haven’t seen much but probably because it is depressing and also it’s been hard to do stuff since the start of the pandemic so once we start getting rolling we’ll get films for example in 2022. Will be a bit weird.

I think it is pretty constantly in the news. But some reasons why it may not be are fatigue, and also the same reason climate change, melting glaciers, and bleaching of coral aren’t in the news - while they’re disastrous events, and should be taking priority over everything else, they’re just not entertaining enough.

If a plane crashes, or a car explodes, even if no one died it will be all over the news because there’s fire and explosions.

Hmm, didn’t notice that so much, but I guess it might also be just seen as a controversial topic and some media want to avoid alienating part of their audience?

Or are you also specifically referring to Lemmy and what people post here? There is definitely not a lot of discussion about that here. I guess right now tech and privacy is pretty dominating on Lemmy.ml

Hey, so I discovered this Australian show Retrograde today. It’s a show that was done under Covid, filmed via Zoom apparently. Haven’t watched it but I guess it’s proper Coronavirus show. Actually, it’s reminded me that a couple of podcasts and the like have popped up because of the lockdown. They don’t always talk about the pandemic explicitly but that’s why they are doing this. Here is just one example from Garry of The Dollop with his mom: PAMdemic but it’s not really media as fiction I guess.