Sapphire Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing of Central Queens on the Dangers of COVID-19 Misinformation
- By Ady Fox
- •
- 07 Sep, 2020
There are plenty of benefits to social media, especially on the social aspect of it during a global pandemic! Social media sites and video-calling apps have allowed millions to virtually stay in touch when seeing each other face-to-face wasn’t (or still isn’t) an option.
But unfortunately, social media has become a place where misinformation, myths, and other unproven information about COVID-19 is readily shared, ends up going viral, and is accepted as fact by millions of people.
Sapphire Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing has a look at this issue and how you can avoid falling into these traps.
Virtually Limitless Pitfalls
Especially in the United States where opinions on COVID-19 are falling down party lines in a politically supercharged election year, you can probably see an article touting any opinion possible on the novel coronavirus. According to a report from Avaaz, a nonprofit civil society group, there were 460 million views of misinformation about COVID-19 in just April 2020 alone.
In response, Facebook said that their global network of fact-checkers applied warning labels to nearly 100 million pieces of COVID-19 content from April to June.
The study cited some examples, including:
- COVID-19 was being transmitted through poultry eggs.
- Drinking bleach may kill the virus.
- It’s a bioweapon funded by billionaires or drug companies so they could become rich off a vaccine.
How You Can Be Properly Informed
The best way to understand what’s happening with COVID-19 is to talk to your doctor if you have any questions. The medical community is the best source for information, and even though some research changes because this is a new virus, you will always get the best information possible. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are also two highly credible sources on coronavirus.
To learn more about Sapphire Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing of Central Queens and all of the services they offer, visit https://www.sapphirerehab.com/.
