Continued rise of the infodemic

We are sort of, kind of, in the midst of what could be called an infodemic.

The term can be traced to an article by The Lancet, which covered the steps the World Health Organization (WHO) is taking to combat false information.

The term could be coined to a surfeit of information that puts many into panic mode unnecessarily. This can be attached to fear mongering which is the action of deliberately arousing public fear or alarm about a particular issue.

Right now it might seem like that’s what the media is doing.

And even though that is probably how the media comes across, it still isn’t the smart decision to say that there is no cause for concern. Conspiracy theorists will say that there is some big fiasco that the government is trying to conceal by distracting the public with a virus. Which might seem to be a sensible thought, considering the stock market crash.

But right now, in the present, the numbers are climbing because there are enough people that think “hah the virus isn’t real, it’s those 5g tower that are making us sick,” which is preposterous, and those people aren’t taking precautions.

The fact of the matter is that the number of cases is increasing. People are out and about acting as though nothing is wrong. The streets are still full of cars, and the parameters to keep people at home is getting more intense because just a week or two ago, parks were full of people using public facilities.

As much as we’d like to think that the people that are sick will stay home, given that the numbers are climbing, even in Six Nations, there is obviously no absolute guarantee. We went from three, to seven, to nine.

There are also those select few that are asymptomatic: without their knowledge they carry the virus and spread it during and past the incubation period because they exhibit no symptoms while still contagious.

So because many people with COVID-19 have only mild symptoms and some experience none, it is impossible to know precisely how many people have been affected by the virus

One of the other more concerning issues that comes from asymptomatic carriers, is that they can be in the health field. It is an honest opinion that anyone who works in an essential business, should have been tested to make sure.

For some reason the excuse of not having the ability to do so is also concerning, as businesses should have been given allotted funding to have those tests in place to protect staff and clients.

But it is recommended that people ignore anything that can’t be traced back to a source while being on the lookout for conspiracy theories, misinformation and rumours too.

The main focus is to be careful about what you read and to understand that there is an excess of information and not to assume that everything regurgitated online is accurate.

Follow the steps you’re advised to.

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