Recently, I was talking to an acquaintance about the corona virus, COVID-19, and in talking to them I realized the amount of disinformation being spread is such, that even for someone like me, that tries to stay up to date, can impact you. The reason I found this to be scary was because we’re talking about an issue that should have no partisanship or political party. And so, while I know there are incentives behind the curtains for disinformation, you would think they would be caught by people as the blinders of party-fandom would be removed.
My conversation began around any cases having emerged around the region. It was just a conversation-starter, not much more; and I knew the answer, as I have been following the spread relatively closely (or so I thought). From that point, the disinformation conversation began. I made the assertion that I had read on the news that the virus may have been the result of a lab in Wuhan China (I will not post links as I do not want to be a carrier of more misinformation). I read the article on what I thought was a legitimate news source, the CBC. However, with the urge to get readers, and therefore, focus on catchy content, the CBC elected to republish an article that had originated at the New York Post. There are two types of people in this world, those that believe in the New York Post, and those who do not. I am of the latter and as such I should have been more vigilant; and I was not.
The trajectory of the conversation went downwards from there. It turned from facts, to opinions, to shouting. Of note, there were quotes like: “The number of reported cases cannot be trusted by China”, to “I heard the virus really began in a US lab”, to “China did this to disrupt our economy”. In between the arguing, which makes little sense when the facts are so divergent from each other, and shouting, the evening turned to crap. All because I brought up a subject I felt would be free of partisanship, and accidentally introduced misinformation. The latter, not only removed all credibility I may have had, but it also gave everyone at the table an incentive to do that same.
With that mind, at of today, Feb 24, 2020, the corona virus has spread to a reported 78,811 confirmed people world wide. Close to 98% of all reported cases have happened in China. The global death toll of 2462 is about 3%. Meaning that out of 30 people infected, 1 has the high risk of death. This is important, because it compares more favorably with a sister corona virus, SARS, which had a death rate of 10%.
In the US, of the 35 confirmed cases, only 2 seem to be due to exposure within the US. The rest all seem to point to exposure with the pathogen in China, or in another region of the world (where it has also spread, like East Asia).
Neither the WHO, or the CDC, have diverged from the initial reporting that the outbreak began in Wuhan, though, they have provided little more details as to the site of origin.
What is the lesson to be learned here? That if people like me, that pride themselves in following serious and well-sourced, news sources, can fall victim to misinformation, what can one expect from others?
