By: Michele Weldon: Weldon is an author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and senior leader with The OpEd Project. Her latest book is “The Time We Have: Essays on Pandemic Living.”
Diamonds are forever, or at least that was the title of the 1971 James Bond movie and an even earlier 1947 advertising campaign for DeBeers jewelry. Tattoos, belief systems, truth and relationships are also supposed to last forever — that is, until they are removed, disproven, ended or disintegrate.
Lately we have questioned whether Covid really will last forever and, with it, the parallel pandemic of misinformation it spawned. The new rash of conspiracy theories and unproven proclamations about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump signals that the plague of lies may last forever, too.
Summer ushers in a Covid surge of the new variant that is unfolding in the U.S. and abroad with emergency room visits up 23 percent, and a 13 percent increase in hospitalizations in this country, the Centers for Disease Control reports. Infections are increasing in 39 states or territories and declining in none. The World Health Organization reports more than 1,000 deaths from Covid in this country in June.
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Even though the WHO declared in May 2023 that Covid was no longer a public health concern, the notion that this disease will forever pose a threat lingers. There have been more than 7 million deaths worldwide from Covid to date, and more deaths every day.
The lies surrounding Covid, vaccinations and treatments also still persist, calling into question most every source of news and timely announcements. Covid for many marked the end of innocence for those who believed in the reliability and credibility of news sources.
Reality is freshly challenged as a new Washington Post poll shows that nearly 30 Republican congressional members blame President Joe Biden, the Secret Service, Democrats or the media for Trump's shooting. None of these projections are substantiated.
The infinite future for the Covid pandemic signals a tale of two countries divided into those who are careful with masking and vaxxing due to correct health information and safe practices, and those who defy prevention and treatment because they are part of a political scheme of control and encroachment on their civil rights. The division is once again prominent with the way the Trump rally shooting is interpreted and explained — without factual backup.
Fortunately, last month the Supreme Court denied the lawsuit challenging the government’s right to restrict social media platforms from disseminating Covid-19 misinformation. The lawsuit was in reaction to Surgeon General Vivek Murthy seeking to stem the tide of inaccurate vaccine information that could cost thousands of lives.
The prevailing falsehoods about Covid are not just bothersome or inconvenient, they change behaviors that result in the spread of infections, hospitalizations and deaths. Playing what one expert calls “Covid roulette” with risky behaviors based on false information can result in more cases. Untruths are a matter of life and death.
Politifact has fact-checked more than 2,300 claims about Covid vaccines, including the Instagram post in January that claimed 17 million people died from vaccines. Not true.
A recent Brown University study of “50 papers published between Jan. 1, 2020, and Feb. 24, 2023, that investigated the efficacy of 119 misinformation interventions,” found that actions to counter inaccuracies around Covid and publications are urgently needed.
“Public health practitioners, journalists, community organizations and other trusted messengers are tasked with responding to health misinformation every day,” said co-author Stefanie Friedhoff, an associate professor at Brown’s School of Public Health and co-director of the Information Futures Lab.
Whether or not people believe Covid infections will last another year, decade or century, it is critical to guarantee that reliable, factual information about Covid is available and that misformation is debunked as swiftly as possible.
A March 2024 Gallup News poll shows “59% of Americans believe the pandemic is over.” More than half, or “57%, report that their lives have not returned to normal, and 43% expect they never will.”
Yes, Covid is on the rise and hopefully new vaccine variants can keep the spread under control and prevent deaths. The vaccine for disinformation of any and all sorts is a commitment to what is real and a vigorous rejection of false narratives. Debunking the latest untrue assertions can also prevent deaths from possible political violence.
As a nation, we can and must handle the truth.
