As the world struggles to find a vaccine and a remedy for COVID-19, it is said that there is no antidote to sight against the fledgling epidemic of coronavirus conspiracy theories, deceptions, anti-masking myths and false remedies. The phenomenon, which is largely found on social media, intensified this week when President Donald Trump retwed a fake video about a malaria drug that is a cure for the virus and it was revealed that Russian intelligence agencies were spreading incorrect information about the crisis. through English websites.
Experts are concerned that the torrent of erroneous data is dangerously undermining efforts to curb the virus, which has been attributed to some 150,000 deaths in the United States and more than a share of a million more worldwide. “It’s a genuine challenge in terms of seeking to get the message to the public about what they can really do to protect themselves and the facts behind the problem,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at the University of Minnesota. . Research and politics. He said the concern is that other people will be put at risk because they don’t have to fight the virus.
“You don’t want a mask. There’s a cure,” Dr. Stella Immanuel promised in a video that sells hydroxychloroquine. ; “You don’t want other people locked up.” The truth: last month, federal regulators revoked their approval of the drug as an emergency remedy amid growing evidence that it is not working and can have fatal side effects. Even if it were effective, it would not negate the need for masks and other measures to involve the epidemic.
None of this has prevented Trump, who has praised the drug, from retweating the video. Twitter and Facebook began deleting the video Monday for violating COVID-19’s misinformation policies, but had already been viewed more than 20 million times.
Many of the claims in Emmanuel’s video are widely questioned through medical experts. Emmanuel has made even more medical statements in the past, claiming in a 2013 sermon that cysts, fibroids and other situations can be caused by sex with demons.
Other unsubstantiated theories and deceptions have claimed that the virus is genuine or that it is a biological weapon created throughout the United States or its adversaries. A hoax in the first few months of the outbreak claimed that the new 5G towers were spreading the virus through the microwave.
Another folk tale says Microsoft founder Bill Gates planned to use COVID-19 vaccines to implant microchips in the world’s 7 billion human beings. Then there are the political theories that doctors, hounds and federal officials conspire to lie about the risk of the virus causing political damage to Trump. Social media amplified demands and helped believers locate others.
The avalanche of incorrect information posed a challenge for Facebook, Twitter and other platforms, who were accused of censorship for getting rid of incorrect virus information. A 26-minute video from professionals that states that the government’s top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, manufactured the virus and sent it to China seen more than 8 million times before the platforms acted.
The video, titled “Plandemic”, also warned that the mask may put you in poor health because of the false claim That Facebook quoted when removing the video from its site. Judy Mikovits, the discredited physician “Plandemic”, was scheduled to appear on Sinclair Broadcast Group’s “America This Week”. But the company, which operates television stations in 81 U.S. markets, has retained the segment, saying it was “not appropriate” to broadcast it.
This week, U.S. government officials They talked about the condition of anonymity cited what they said was a transparent link between Russian intelligence and internet sites with stories designed to spread data about coronavirus in the West. Russian officials have denied the allegations. Of all the countless claims about the virus, those relating to the mask are among the most tenacious.
Carlos Lopez, a New York City resident, said he wore a mask when he was mandatory to avoid trouble, but he didn’t think it was mandatory. “They politicize it as a tool,” he said. “I think it’s more about making Trump lose. It’s more of a scare tactic. He’s in the minority. A recent AP/NORC vote found that 3 out of four American Democrats and Republicans have a national mask mandate.
However, the sceptics of the mask are a vocal minority and have combined to create social media pages where many false statements about the protection of the mask are shared. Facebook has disposed of some pages, such as the organization Unmasking America !, which had about 10,000 members, but others remain.
A video of a woman attacking a mask on an Arizona target has won nearly 84,000 likes on Twitter. At the beginning of the pandemic, the medical government itself caused a great deal of confusion about the masks.
In February, officials like the U.S. surgeon general suggested americans not buy masks because they were mandatory for the workers’ medical corps and possibly would not be effective in situations. Public fitness officials changed their minds when it became clear that the virus can also spread among other people without symptoms.
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