‘ Infodemic’ – Another pandemic
There have been multiple lessons learned from this COVID- 19 pandemic with the biggest one being to implement more proactive measures to battle the spread of false information or infodemic, as it is popularly known.
The biggest of the problems I have noted with people who perpetuate conspiracies and lies is lack of awareness of reliable sources and where to get trustworthy information.
There are those of course who just do it out of plain ignorance, despite them having direct access to all the facts they need, some even well versed with loads of correct information. This gets exacerbated when people in leadership positions internalise the clutter, throwing a lot more people into the menace. The most quintessential of examples is Donald Trump the man who, for four full years, held a position deemed by many to be the most powerful in the world - the U. S presidency. Getting him removed from office could not have come at a better time considering how he plunged a lot of people into a crevasse with his spreading of false baseless information. It all began early 2020 when he called the virus “just a flu that will dissipate with the arrival of warm weather”. The situation ended up aggravating to a point where his followers threatened health officials who tried to use facts to repel his misinformation - including Dr. Anthony Fauci and his family.
Trump’s supporters refused to wear masks, refused to cooperate with contact tracers, and rejected proven basic public health advice about social distancing. One of his long- time supporters, Herman Cain died of COVID- 19 weeks after attending Trump’s rally in Tulsa without a mask.
Preposterous as this may sound, there were even calls to poison- control centres after Trump speculated that injecting or ingesting disinfectants could protect against the coronavirus.
We have similar occurrences here in Africa, of people continuing to deny the existence of the virus, claiming that scientists are “making up stories” to scare them. The late Tanzanian president, John Pombe Magufuli told his people and the world that his country was Covid- free, limited testing to only travellers, despite many of his citizens getting hospitalised and dying of Covid- related symptoms. Seif Sharif Hamad, one of the most prominent, historical leaders in Tanzania even passed away due to COVID- 19. Several countries which received travellers from Tanzania reported them testing positive for the disease, with some as well testing positive for the South African B. 1.351 variant. The National Institute for Medical Research in Dar- es Salaam, once reputable for its reliability on any epidemiological information, started refusing to share any data about COVID- 19 to journalists. This disorder has continued to further crumble an already disintegrated situation, getting more people exposed to the virus, more getting infected and more deaths that could have been easily avoided. With that said however, it remains the responsibility of every individual out there to keep themselves updated, stay informed with correct, relevant, factual information and not let anyone stray your mind away with made- up conspiracies.
We have reliable media sources in our phones these days, everything we need to verify whatever information we come across on different electronic sources, yet people will still choose to believe a false statement before they confirm it for themselves. That one is sheer ignorance. We need to do better, or else we will keep fighting two pandemics every time we have disease outbreaks. That will only worsen whatever situation we will be faced with at that time.
Health for one, Health for all!