The uncovered COVID-19 myth survives online despite the facts-The New Indian Express

Along Associated Press

Chicago: From speculation that the coronavirus was created in the laboratory to hoax treatment, as we traveled around the world in 2020, an overwhelming amount of false information stuck to COVID-19.

Public health officials, fact checkers, and doctors have tried to break hundreds of rumors in countless ways. However, false information about pandemics has endured as much trouble as the virus itself. And many falsehoods have revived online this month as the United States, United Kingdom and Canada launch vaccinations.

Let’s take a look at five stubborn myths about COVID-19 that are shared and traveling this year.

Myth: Masks do not provide protection from viruses

In fact, they do.

However, early mixed messaging caused some confusion. U.S. officials initially told Americans that they didn’t need to wear or buy masks when there was a shortage of N95 masks for health care workers. They later reversed the course and urged the general public to wear a cloth mask and face cover outside.

Stephanie Edgeley, a professor of communications at Northwestern University, explained in an early message that people “have a little more room to cover these stories” about wearing masks.

For example, some social media users have disseminated a March video of Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top U.S. government infectious disease expert, stating that people “should not walk around with masks.” I will. Facing in public. The clip version has been viewed millions of times on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

According to media intelligence company Zignal Labs, masks are not an effective safeguard online in October after U.S. President Donald Trump and two senators were infected with COVID-19 at a Rose Garden ceremony. I am. Users of social media argued that the cover should not be effective because the senator was wearing a mask at some point during the event.

However, the mask prevents the spread of virus particles. Last month, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which continues to advise Americans to wear masks, cited a study that suggested that masks could protect wearers and others.

Myth: The virus was man-made

It wasn’t.

Social media users and fringe websites interweave conspiracy theories that the virus was accidentally or deliberately leaked from a Chinese Wuhan laboratory before the World Health Organization declared a COVID-19 pandemic in March. .. Falsehood was endorsed by elected officials, including Trump.

The origin of the virus is far less scandalous: it probably has a natural origin. Bats are believed to be the original or intermediate host of several viruses that have caused recent epidemics, including COVID-19. US intelligence also concluded that the virus was not artificial.

Still, conspiracy theories continue to spread online and revived in September when Chinese virologists reiterated their claims on Fox News.

Myth: COVID-19 resembles influenza

In fact, COVID-19 has proven to be far more deadly.

Due to the early similarities between COVID-19 and influenza symptoms, many speculated that there would be no significant difference between the two illnesses. Social media posts and videos that have been viewed thousands of times online also claim that COVID-19 is less deadly than the flu. Trump tweeted an incorrect comparison of influenza and COVID-19 in March and October as the state enforced a curfew.

COVID-19 has accused the deaths of more than 300,000 Americans this year and killed approximately 1.5 million people worldwide. By comparison, the CDC estimates that there are 12,000 to 61,000 influenza-related deaths each year.

The symptoms of COVID-19 are much more severe and can last for months. Health experts have also discovered a variety of strange coronavirus symptoms, from fog in the brain to swelling in the toes.

Myth: Civil servants exaggerate COVID-19 tolls

is not.

Social media users began taking pictures of empty hospital waiting rooms earlier this year, claiming that few people were infected with COVID-19. Photos and videos got a lot of attention with the #FilmYourHospital hashtag. This is part of a right-wing conspiracy theory that public health officials and politicians are exaggerating the deadly victims of COVID-19. However, fewer people are in the waiting area as the hospital effectively begins to make reservations, cancels selective procedures, and bans visitors during the pandemic.

This month, a selfie of a Nevada doctor at an empty temporary care site set up to treat additional coronavirus patients was shared online as evidence that the hospital wasn’t full. However, the photo was taken on November 12, before the site opened. Since then, it has served at least 200 patients.

Myth: The virus is a ploy to force vaccination worldwide

That is not true.

Vaccine opponents have pushed this conspiracy theory forward. Since January, when the virus falsely claimed to have been patented by a pharmaceutical company in return for the disease. Some have targeted billionaires and vaccine advocates Bill Gates. He claims that it was part of a global program for COVID-19 to microchip billions of people through high-dose vaccination. Gates has never threatened to use a microchip. Instead, he suggested creating a database of people who were vaccinated against the virus.

Skepticism is also rising, centered on the speed of vaccine development. For example, a video watched nearly 100,000 times on social media falsely claimed that pharmaceutical companies skipped animal testing of vaccines. In fact, the vaccine was tested in mice and macaques.

The UK, Canada, and the US Food and Drug Administration have approved Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine. The FDA will review Moderna’s shots on Thursday.

Still, according to this month’s survey by the Associated Press-National Pollster Center, only about half of Americans are willing to vaccinate.

Continued false information about vaccines can cause some of that hesitation.

“I don’t think it was one myth that caused the problem,” said Nancy Kas, deputy director of public health at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute for Bioethics. “It’s the fact that there were many, many, many myths.”