Fighting COVID Disinformation

By SAM URETSKY

On Oct 31, the New York Times published a report by Mara Gay, describing the misinformation and disinformation about COVID-19 that is being distributed around the city of New York. Most of the misinformation (well intentioned mistakes) or disinformation (malicious spread of false information) originated in the social media – Facebook, Twitter and related sites.

The false reports were apparently targeted to specific populations in at least a dozen languages.

Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn were warned that the vaccine could alter a person’s DNA and had minimal protective activity. “In March, the city’s Polish community was treated to false claims that the mRNA vaccines were designed to ‘annihilate Christianity and the Polish Nation.’ A city report in March described a rumor prevalent in New York’s Haitian neighborhoods that the vaccines were created to reduce the Black population.”

Much of the material was reminiscent of the conspiracy theories about HIV disease (AIDS) that were common during the 1980s, when gays were told that the human immunodeficiency virus was part of a government plot to eliminate the gay population, while people of African ancestry were warned that AIDS was aimed at decimating Blacks. One claimed that vaccinated people have developed boils; vaccines magnetize the body; “deep state operatives” developed the vaccines together with the military.”

The goal of collecting this type of information is to direct the city’s efforts to correct it through health department advertising, town hall meetings, and other communications. The programs to encourage vaccination have worked, to a point, but as The Hill reported “Ten attorneys general in states with GOP governors have joined the fight to push back against a Biden administration vaccine mandate for federal contractors, arguing that it is “unconstitutional, unlawful, and unwise.”

The tragedy is that we have the capability of reaching herd immunity, the state where there are so many people who are immune to COVID-19 that the virus can’t be spread, but false information has convinced large numbers of people that the vaccines are ineffective or dangerous – while at the same time there is the Trump administration claim that the virus is only as deadly as the seasonal flu. Even some health care workers, who should know better, are resisting vaccination and protesting against vaccine mandates. Even so, 27% of health care workers have not been vaccinated – primarily those from rural areas with limited education,

The result is that the pandemic has effectively pushed aside care of other diseases, as well as stopped important research in other areas. The Nov. 4, 2020, issue of Clinical Cancer Informatics reported “In March-July 2020, in comparison with the baseline period of March-July 2019, there is a substantial decrease in cancer screenings, visits, therapy, and surgeries, with variation by cancer type and site of service. At the peak of the pandemic in April, screening for breast, colon, prostate, and lung cancers was lower by 85%, 75%, 74%, and 56%, respectively. Significant utilization reductions were observed in April for hospital outpatient evaluation and management (E&M) visits (-74%), new patient E&M visits (-70%), and established patient E&M visits (-60%).”

In Sept. 5, 2021, CNN reported “Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Florida and Arkansas have less than 10% left of their ICU bed capacity.” [British Medical Journal] reported that in England there had been an increase in acute cardiac deaths as high as 41% from January 2014 to June 2020. In many cases this can be related to the higher COVID-19 mortality associated with pre-existing conditions or age, but the authors concluded “The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an inflation in acute cardiovascular deaths, nearly half of which occurred in the community and most did not relate to COVID-19 infection suggesting there were delays to seeking help or likely the result of undiagnosed COVID-19.”

Research programs into rare diseases, those with fewer than 200,000 victims in the United States, has effectively been brought to a standstill as COVID-19 absorbed both research and treatment facilities. Hospital beds may be freed as new drugs may reduce the need for hospitalization, but research programs may not recover for decades.

Mandates will help of course, but the immediate challenge is to counter the misinformation coming from mainstream platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and WhatsApp. The World Health Organization (WHO) is trying to fight misinformation in the social media with a site that offers people a chance to report disinformation on these and other sites. It’s too little too late, but we have to try.

Sam Uretsky is a writer and pharmacist living in Louisville, Ky. Email sdu01@outlook.com.

From The Progressive Populist, December 1, 2021

Populist.com