Celeb conspiracy theorists spread infection myths
handling of the crisis is growing as his focus continues to move on to bragging about his TV ratings and slamming his opponents.
He also made a crass joke. Referring to infection projections, he said: “I want to come way under the models. The professionals did the models. I was never involved in a model. At least this kind of model.”
The pandemic has also laid bare how unprepared America’s health care system is compared to countries with universal systems.
With a high uninsured rate and huge out-of-pocket expenses, it is feared hundreds of thousands of Covid-19 sufferers will not seek care because of the costs.
Even before the crisis began, the States had fewer doctors and hospital beds per capita than most other developed countries. The problems have been compounded by the White House’s lack of testing, conflicting information and Trump undermining medical experts.
Jen Kates, director of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation in California, said: “Everyone working in this space would agree that... the US is far behind on this.”
The virus has been found to be infecting and killing black Americans at a disproportionately high rate. This has been put down to the disparity between white and black people in terms of wealth, health provision and medical access. African Americans have also been hit very badly by unemployment. Over 16 million Americans have lost their jobs as thousands of firms teeter on the brink of collapse. Despite being such a rich country, with an average salary of £38,992 last year, the crisis has left millions turning to charity organisations to avoid going hungry. The San Antonio Food Bank in Texas distributed 453 tons of food to roughly 6,000 families in a single day this week. Trump has predicted deaths will be “much lower” than 100,000 and
A CYCLIST has created a 12-mile route spelling out ‘NHS’ across his town in tribute to its staff.
The path in Shorehamby-Sea, West Sussex, was made by Adam Bronkhorst,
45, using the Strava app.
He said it was “almost like the town saying thank you”.
Coffins are covered over
insisted the US economy will soon be back on track.
He said: “I think what’s going to happen, we will have a big bounce rather than a small bounce.
“And we will have succeeded in many ways. Also from an economic standpoint, this is taking a tremendous toll mentally on a lot of people. I think we are going to open up strong, open up very successfully, and even more successfully than before.”
However, his country has grown increasingly sceptical about his claims, and his approval rating is starting to fall.
Many point to the lies he has told during the crisis, including the one when he said: “The 15 [cases in the US] within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
CELEBRITIES are being blamed for sharing misinformation about coronavirus.
The ridiculous claim that the 5G network was spreading Covid-19 has been put about by Cheers actor Woody Harrelson, former Dancing on Ice judge Jason Gardiner and boxer Amir Khan, below, who even backed the conspiracy theory in a series of odd videos on his Instagram page.
He told his 1.3 million followers: “I don’t think this is coming from China. That’s a lie, really. It’s a man-made thing. It’s been put there for a reason – while they test 5G. Look at these towers at night-time that have been put up, then telling people not to go out.” Meanwhile, after Donald Trump proclaimed that anti-malarial chloroquine phosphate is a miracle cure for coronavirus, Nigeria reported accidental poisonings.
In Arizona a man died after ingesting not the human drug, but the chemical with the same name used to clean fish tanks.
Last month Twitter deleted a message from Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani, below, for spreading “coronavirus misinformation” after he claimed another anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine was
“100% effective” in treating the disease. The social network also deleted similar claims by controversial Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.
Incorrect claims widely shared include that Covid-19 could be alleviated by gargling salt water or avoiding cold food and drink, and that you know you do not have the virus if you can hold your breath for 10 seconds.
This week more alarming viral social media posts have been debunked.
One is a voice note purporting to be from a member of the ambulance service, which says that one-third of deaths will be healthy children, and all ice rinks in the country are now being used as mortuaries. Public Health England has confirmed this is false. And two videos claiming to show patients lying in corridors, left, and rooms filled with body bags at St Mary’s Hospital in London, were filmed in Spain and Ecuador. Youngsters are more likely to see fake news about the virus online. It was revealed this week by Ofcom that 46% of internetusing adults had seen false stories, but that rose to 58% among those aged 18 to 24.