CHICAGO (AP): From speculation that the coronavirus was created in a lab to trick cures, an overwhelming amount of false information clung to COVID-19 as it circled the globe in 2020.
Public health officials, verifiers and doctors tried to dispel hundreds of rumors in endless ways. But the misinformation surrounding the pandemic has withstood as annoyingly as the virus itself. And with the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada deploying vaccines this month, many falsehoods are seeing a resurgence online.
A look at five stubborn myths surrounding COVID-19 that were shared this year and continue to travel:
MYTH: MASKS DO NOT PROVIDE VIRUS PROTECTION
In fact, yes.
However, mixed messaging at first caused some confusion. U.S. officials initially told Americans they did not need to wear or buy masks, at a time when there was a shortage of N95 masks for health care workers. Subsequently, they reversed course and urged the public to wear fabric masks and coatings outside.
The first messages gave people “a little more room to take on these narratives” against wearing masks, explained Stephanie Edgerly, a communications professor at Northwestern University.
Some social media users, for example, are still releasing a March video of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, who says people “shouldn’t walk around with masks,” though since since then he has urged people to cover their faces in public. Versions of this clip have been viewed millions of times on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
Online claims masks are not an effective form of protection back in October after U.S. President Donald Trump and two U.S. senators hired COVID-19 during a Rose Garden ceremony, according to the firm. media information Zignal Labs. Social media users claimed the coverage did not have to be effective because senators wore masks at some point in the event.
But masks prevent the spread of virus particles. Last month, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which continues to advise Americans to wear masks, cited the research that the suggested masks can protect both the user and other people.
MYTH: THE VIRUS IS MANUFACTURED BY MAN
It wasn’t.
Users of social media and marginal websites weaved a conspiracy theory that the virus leaked, either accidentally or intentionally, from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, before the World Health Organization. Health declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March. Falsehood was defended by elected officials, including Trump.
The origins of the virus are much less outrageous: it probably originated in nature. Bats are believed to be the original or intermediate hosts of several viruses that have caused recent epidemics, including COVID-19. U.S. intelligence agencies also concluded the virus is not artificial.
Still, conspiracy theory continues to travel online and resurfaced in September when a Chinese virologist repeated the claim on Fox News.
MYTH: COVID-19 IS SIMILAR TO FLU
In fact, COVID-19 has been shown to be much more lethal.
Early similarities between COVID-19 symptoms and influenza led many to speculate that there was not much difference between the two diseases. Social media posts and videos viewed thousands of times online also claim that COVID-19 is no more deadly than the flu. Trump tweeted a flawed comparison between the flu and COVID-19 in March and October as states implemented home stay orders.
COVID-19 has been charged with more than 300,000 U.S. deaths this year and has killed approximately 1.5 million worldwide. In comparison, the CDC estimates there are 12,000 to 61,000 flu-related deaths annually.
Symptoms of COVID-19 can be much more severe and persist for months. Health experts have also discovered a number of strange symptoms of coronavirus, from brain fog to swollen toes..
MYTH: OFFICIALS EXAGGERATE COVID-19 TOLL
Are not.
Social media users began photographing empty hospital waiting rooms earlier this year, claiming few people were sick with COVID-19. Photos and videos gained momentum with the #FilmYourHospital hashtag, which is part of a right-wing conspiracy theory according to which public health officials and politicians exaggerated the deadly toll of COVID-19. But there are fewer people in the waiting areas because hospitals have practically started making appointments, canceling election procedures and banning visitors during the pandemic.
This month, a selfie from a Nevada doctor in a makeshift, empty care setting created to care for additional coronavirus patients was shared online as proof that hospitals are not full. However, the photo was taken on November 12 before the site opened. Since then he has cared for at least 200 patients.
MYTH: THE VIRUS IS A WAY TO FORCE WORLD VACCINATIONS
This is not true.
Vaccine supporters have been pushing this conspiracy theory since January, when some falsely claimed online that the virus had been patented. by pharmaceutical companies as a plan to charge for the disease. Some billionaires and vaccine advocates, Bill Gates, claiming that it was part of a global plan around COVID-19 for microchips of billions of people using massive vaccines. Gates has not threatened to microchip anyone. Instead, he suggested creating a database of people who have been inoculated against the virus.
Skepticism has also grown around the speed of vaccine development. A video seen almost 100,000 times on social media, for example, pharmaceutical companies falsely claimed they skipped animal trials to get vaccines. In fact, the vaccines were tested on mice and macaques.
The United Kingdom, Canada, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have authorized the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. The FDA will review the Modern shot on Thursday.
However, only half of Americans say they are willing to receive the vaccine, according to a survey this month by the Associated Press-Center NORC for Research in Public Affairs.
Continuous misinformation about the vaccine may cause some hesitation.
“I don’t think it was one of the myths that caused the problem,” said Nancy Kass, deputy director of public health at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute for Bioethics. “It’s the fact that there were many, many, many myths.”