COVID-19 has plagued the internet for three years now. We have heard it all. Do you remember seeing customers in grocery markets wearing trash bags, gloves, masks (of all creative kinds), and goggles? I sure do! In the last three years, we have come a long way from trash bags and googles. One thing that continues to “plague” our feed on social media and certain broadcast stations is medical misinformation.

Medical misinformation in relation to COVID-19 continues to be big problem. With the misinformation spreading rapidly through the internet, it has led to mistrust in the medical community. Like with all, misinformation spreads faster than the correct information. Medical misinformation stems from improper communication.

COVID-19 medical misinformation has led a pandemic of it’s own. “COVID fatigue” has led to mistrust in the the medical field. The dangers of misinformation has led to serious harm and death. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, information was spread that fruits and vegetables should be bathed in bleach prior to ingestion. Poison control lines were overwhelmed with people calling in after ingesting bleach. “Curable treatments” also rapidly spread across the internet. These treatments were in fact NOT curable and some led to serious side effects.

Once vaccinations came to light, rumors quickly spread about the dangers of the vaccinations. One conspiracy theory was that the government had created a vaccine to microchip everyone who received it. Some, like myself, laughed at this theory. To my surprise, many believed that microchips were in the vaccinations.

What we do know about the pandemic is that the cases of COVID-19 have drastically decreased due to compliance in vaccinations and proper treatment. Antiviral medications like intravenous remdesivir have been given in the hospital to lessen the symptoms of COVID for those who were very ill. Oral Paxalovid has also been given to those who have covid to also lessen the symptoms of COVID. In 2023, the cases have been less severe and the numbers of those who have been affected are much lower. Hospitals have seen such a decrease in COVID that many healthcare facilities are lifting the mask mandate as of April 2023 in Rhode Island in particular.

Medical misinformation will continue to spread faster than factual information. It is crucial that each and every one of us stays informed and looks into the source that the information is coming from. COVID is a prime example of medical misinformation. The misinformation truly led a pandemic of its’ own.

Resources

Hsu, T. (2023). As covid-19 continues to spread, so does misinformation about it. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/28/technology/covid-misinformation-online.html

Love, J., M.D., Blumenberg, J., M.D., & Horowitz, Z., M.D. (2020). The parallel pandemic: medical misinformation and covid-19. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 35(8), 2436-2436. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-020-05897-w

Nelson, T. M.D., Kagan, N. B.S., Critchlow C. B.S., et al. (2020). The danger of misinformation in the covid-19 crisis. Missouri Medicine. 117(6), 510-512. PMID: 33311767

Zimmerman, T., Shiroma, A., Fleischmann, K., et al. (2023). Misinformation and covid-19 vaccine hesitancy. Elsevier. 41(1), 136-144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.11.014