Coronavirus myths are more rampant than virus itself, doctors say. ‘So much nonsense’

Online misinformation, myths and pseudoscience about the global COVID-19 pandemic rival the spread of the virus itself, experts say.

“Everyone at some level is susceptible to this health misinformation and disinformation because there is so much nonsense that’s circling out there,” said Dr. Seema Yasmin, according to CNN.

Yasmin and Dr. Craig Spencer wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times saying that rampant myths are complicating the jobs of physicians trying to treat patients.

“Patients question our evidence-based medical guidance, refuse safe treatments and vaccines, and cite Facebook posts as ‘proof’ that COVID-19 is not real,” the column says.

A study by Avaaz, a non-profit civil society group, found coronavirus misinformation received nearly 460 million views in April on Facebook.

In the past year, global networks spreading health misinformation racked up an estimated 3.8 billion views on Facebook, the study says.

And content from the top 10 sites spreading health misinformation had four times as many views on Facebook as the websites of leading health institutions, such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the report.

A Facebook spokesperson told CNN “their findings don’t reflect the steps we’ve taken to keep it from spreading on our services,” citing recent efforts to add fact-checking labels to coronavirus misinformation.

But in their New York Times column, Yasmin and Spencer conclude that “Facebook is making it harder for us to do our jobs.”

“This undermining of public health and science since the beginning of this outbreak and this pandemic in the U.S. has resulted in people just don’t know where to go,” Spencer said, CNN reported.

This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Coronavirus myths are more rampant than virus itself, doctors say. ‘So much nonsense’."