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Lethal lies: How many people died because of Pike News on Corona?

One of the interesting studies of the period went out to examine how many people were actually harmed by rumors, lies and conspiracy theories related to Covid-19, and the answer is far too much. Which Pike killed hundreds of people? The answer is inside

• Pike News
• Corona
• Corona virus

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In the video: Trump responds to Twitter marking his tweets as Pike News

The concept of Pike News has been circulating among us for quite some time (even if Sarah Netanyahu has only heard about it recently), and is one of the most significant factors that has emerged from social media, and not for the better. The categorizers of the phenomenon constantly claim that Pike News causes real damage, and there is no study that proves this better than the study in which this article deals.

The study, published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, examined rumors and conspiracy theories surrounding the corona plague and identified more than 2,000 cases of spreading dangerous misinformation on social media and other websites in at least 87 countries. In some of these cases, real damage was done, and one of them even led to the deaths of at least 800 people.

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A team of researchers from various academic institutions around the world collaborated to gather and analyze the information for research - they documented cases of misinformation disseminated about Covid-19 - rumors, stigmas and discrimination and of course, how it is possible without the Queen of Pike News: Conspiracy Theories. The researchers focused on a limited period of time and collected incorrect and misleading information that was published on the networks between December 31 and April 5.

Of the three types of misinformation gathered in the study, rumors (defined by investigators as any unverified claim surrounding Covid-19 circulating on social media) were the most common, by a large margin. Rumors accounted for 89 percent of the 2,311 cases documented and analyzed in the study. These rumors included reports of 'miracle cures', some of which you probably came across, such as reports that drinking bleach can protect against corona infection, and some may be less well known to you, such as reports of medicines based on cow feces or a cocktail of camel and lime urine .

Conspiracy theories have been defined by researchers as statements, claims and discussions in a variety of theories regarding the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus or malicious motives behind its spread, and they accounted for 7.8 percent of the cases in the study. In the conspiracy theories, the researchers included everything from the theory that Bill Gates spread the virus as a biological weapon aimed at increasing vaccine sales worldwide to the theory that Donald Trump infiltrated the virus into Iranian cities in order to "harm Iranian culture and honor."

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The third type of misinformation in the study (3.5 percent of cases) is stigmas regarding Covid-19, defined as "a social phenomenon in which a person is directly or indirectly labeled by illness, exposure, his travel history and ethnicity, in a way that led to negative actions against and discrimination against him" . The researchers found that in a number of countries, people of Asian descent - including health workers - experienced bullying or physical assault, following statements by high-profile figures who called the corona virus "Chinese virus" or "Wuhan virus." In one case, a bus full of people evacuated from Wuhan to Ukraine was stoned by locals.

The findings further suggested that in some countries a stigma surrounding the disease even helped spread it because people refused to be tested or hid their symptoms and lied about their exposure history when visiting hospitals.

Although there are harmless rumors and conspiracies, some of them carry significant dangers, such as the theory that spraying the whole body with chlorine can prevent infection with the virus. Another rumor, common in South Korea in early March for example, is a version that rinsing the mouth with salt water can prevent infection. she does not. But one Korean church believed it, so they sprayed salt water on the mouths of the worshipers who came there. It ended up in more than 100 cases of infection because they actually sprayed virus-infected water directly into people’s mouths.

800 died, 60 went blind

But the deadliest lie of all in the study was undoubtedly the one that told of a 'miracle cure'. "There is a popular myth circulating in several places in the world that drinking highly concentrated alcohol can disinfect the body and kill the virus," the researchers wrote. "Following this inaccurate and misleading information, some 800 people were killed, 5,876 people were injured and hospitalized. "60 of them became completely blind as a result of drinking methanol, in the belief that he would cure them of corona," it was written.

According to the researchers, it is not enough for governments to just refute and deny dangerous rumors, misinformation and Pike News. If they really want to fight these messages, they need to oblige the social media giant to take an active part in disseminating correct and verified information.

"Disinformation fueled by rumors, stigmas and conspiracies can lead to serious repercussions on public health, especially when they are given more exposure than professional, scientific and verified information," the researchers wrote in their study summary. "Governments and public bodies must understand the patterns of rumors, stigmas and conspiracy theories that surround the global corona crisis so that they can develop appropriate risk management messages."