It might sound cliché, but humans still love to believe myths and misinformation and put zero-percent effort to know the authenticity of something. Other than the matter of love, a lot of times people hear something or see on a social media platform and believe it with all heart and soul.
This habit causes more harm than it does good in the long-term period. There is a saying that half-knowledge is more dangerous than ignorance.
It has proven to be more accurate in the time of the global healthcare pandemic COVID-19. Well, this is the most recent evidence we have all seen in reality. However, coronavirus is not the one mishappening in the world. There is a long history of several pandemics, epidemics, and different matters related to other aspects of life.
Presently, COVID-19 and HID/AIDS pandemic or epidemic are confirmed to have sped at an alarming level. Misinformation spread is also conformed with the speed of light.
When the World Health Organizations and the officials of the health department confirmed the primary COVID-19 cases, the half-truth blowout just as swiftly as the disease, or more quickly than the virus does. The incorrect and harmful information has clogged the guidelines of public health departments.
People started following the myths and untrue propaganda and started living with misinformation.
At the outset, Coronavirus Misinformation causes more hospitalized people than the virus did itself.
Misinformation plays the role of the deadliest yet trusted agent in times of pandemics. You will see social media platforms full of misinformation and false news and people liking and sharing them. They don’t trust doctors, governments, or healthcare protection services.
It is not true also that every person on the face of the planet put their trust in such absurdities. However, those who believe even in small numbers caused a huge problem.
The misinformation had been in circulation from one place to another in the world.
As per global data, the areas and states of the world where misinformation boomed witnessed more deadly pandemic waves and cases even with vaccine accessibility.
This misrepresentation of COVID-19 generated the spread of pandemic in numerous forms.
In the initial days of the disease, much of the half-truth was about whether COVID-19 was a grave disease or whether individuals can defend themselves with public health actions like mask-wearing. The misinformation also centered on wrong treatments and cures.
In some areas, misinformation was to not get vaccinated because you will die within two years. Or vaccines could change human DNA and you will get terrible heart attacks or some deadly aftermaths.
In the same way, someplace seen the summit of misconceptions of not wearing masks, not believing in COVID-19, and continuously denying everything governmental bodies say.
This disinformation contributes to increasing cases and waves of COVID-19. Also, in the case of misinformation, the effect of social media on mental health was terrible.
The misinformation has been so common that every third person knows about them. It created a mental health disturbance. Believing or not believing is the secondary concern, but its spread was the primary concern. It has become extremely wide-reaching with social media usage.
Some immature stuff like one or two facts, mixed with anxiety, gossip, and story, was amplified and transmitted quickly in the world by modern information technologies.
It was like playing with the sentiments and situations of people and making them believe something absurd because they are not in a position to tackle things due to uncertainties.
All the Coronavirus Misinformation games affected financial prudence, governments, state security, and most importantly public health.
It is accurate that Acting on incorrect information can kill. The extremism, an overabundance of different information, and coronaviruses were all parallel.
Misinformation truly played the role of being the deadliest and most horrible factor in the spread of pandemic.
It sped like wildfire and created a social standing for indecision, disbelief, fear, humiliation, and violent aggression that ultimately ended in the loss of life.
To tackle this upsetting and inhibiting issue, several Reporting Misinformation campaigns were initiated. These campaigns were started to reach zillions of persons worldwide with awareness and authentic information.
Social media influencers, people in limelight, and different representatives jumped into the ground and started bursting the myths and misinformation with informative content.
Public confidence is vital for disabling COVID-19. Thus, finding results to the problem of misinformation is as important for good lives from COVID-19 as public health actions.
If people start believing in short-term lifeless arguments and conceptions, then there is no way out to solve the emerging problems.
They don’t take the disease seriously first and foremost, which causes a lot of complications. Then at every stage and sector, things become more difficult because pandemics can’t be beaten with a single hand. The entire world has to join hands, follow measures, and get vaccinated.
The same went for HIV/AIDS that which is something formed in a laboratory for genocide. Even though, the researcher has revealed that HIV also naturally changed from an animal.
But in the case of COVID-19, things are more complicated because it is a pandemic and reached the entire world with the summit of threatening waves.
Disagreeing with the presence of a virus or a pandemic has been the most considerable misinformation. People not only disbelieve it but willingly reject the existence of COVID-19 with claims on different social media.
Social media groups and joint members also came into the lead to do the misinformation spread.
There is an additional factor of coronavirus that it came into swiftness in time of social media where things get viral with the speed of light.
While fast communication is good for connections, at the same time it causes disorder to corona misconceptions.
The world’s first social media pandemic COVID-19 has seen an explosion of misinformation at a scary rate on social media.
However, the World Health Organizations are including protection services. Hence, instead of believing false information, it is much better to make good efforts and do some authentic research.
Sources
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590061720300569
