President Trump was likely largest driver of COVID-19 misinformation “infodemic” per Cornell University study

[NRSKarenRN]

Cornell University

Corona virus misinformation:quantifying sources and themes in the COVID-19‘ infodemic’

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Abstract:

The COVID19 pandemic has unfolded along side what the World Health Organization has termed an “infodemic” of misinformation. This study identifies and analyzes the most prominent topics of COVID related misinformation that emerged in traditional media between January  1 and May 26,2020  based on a total sample of over 38 million articles published in English-language media around the world.  To our knowledge, our analysis is the first comprehensive survey of the traditional and online media landscape on this issue. We found that media mentions of US President Donald Trump within the context of COVID-19 misinformation made up by far the largest share of the infodemic. Trump mentions comprised 37.9% of the overall misinformation conversation, well ahead of any other topics. We conclude that the President of the United States was likely the largest driver of the COVID-19 misinformation “infodemic”. Only 16.4% of the misinformation conversation was “fact-checking” in nature, suggesting that the majority of COVID misinformation is conveyed by the media without question or correction.

 

[Matthew Prazak]

Belt and Road started in 2013. Trump started as President 3 years after that. Not sure I buy the assertion. I do respect it.

I don't know that he accomplished a lot butting heads with the Chinese over trade. I think he blundered on that one. Definitely did okay with fixing NAFTA. I was hoping for a similar outcome with the Chinese. Didn't happen.

 

[toomuchbaloney]

On 10/19/2020 at 12:29 PM, Nurse SMS said:

Maybe it used to be but then Trump showed everyone how its really done.

I don't think there is any denying the man has blood on his hands.

@Matthew Prazak

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Blood on his hands? Not sure what that is all about

Trump is responsible for the deaths of Americans. He is the IMPOTUS. The accountability for the bungled pandemic response is blood on Trump's hands. 

His indifference to causing death qualifies him as a psychopath. His persistence in lying about a deadly pandemic is evidence of his mental illness. 

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I read some mainstream media today about covid.  It was pretty matter of fact and really didn't mention Trump at all.  Didn't mention that we were "losing our battle with covid" but it certainly didn't post it as a non-event.

I imagine this kind of responsible reporting in the media will continue after the election.

Mind you left wing and right wing media will have different things to say about it.  For example Hunter Biden has about 10 stories over at Fox News and is the main huge headline.  They do report covid on a side bar.  

CNN is reporting on a bunch of political and voting topics but not much about Covid.

No mention of Trump spreading covid dust around.  

It's a real thing.

The US recorded a record high number of cases this week.  Utah had a record high number of cases.  Hospitals in Idado are at 99% capacity and stretched to the the max.  

These states are Republican lead and Democrat lead.  The virus doesn't discriminate.   

https://apnews.com/article/pandemics-virus-outbreak-connecticut-south-dakota-birthdays-dc26340a9b1311ad81e0f8b99a7a6dbd

[MunoRN, RN]

1 hour ago, Matthew Prazak said:

Belt and Road started in 2013. Trump started as President 3 years after that. Not sure I buy the assertion. I do respect it.

I don't know that he accomplished a lot butting heads with the Chinese over trade. I think he blundered on that one. Definitely did okay with fixing NAFTA. I was hoping for a similar outcome with the Chinese. Didn't happen.

 

China initially proposed the Belt and Road initiative in 2013 but it didn't go anywhere and no other countries had joined until Trump backed out of the TPP, leaving a vacuum that the Belt and Road initiative filled.

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

On 10/23/2020 at 9:10 AM, Matthew Prazak said:

The country is not "losing its battle so badly with a pandemic". That is hyperbole. If I didn't know better I would think you were a headline writer for the MSM. Really, I am just going to call it out. That is a truly stupid statement. Alarmist. Only a retired person glued to the TV and news every day could come up with a totally unsupported wild and ridiculous theory like that. LMBO

You really want to know why COVID is spreading? Because every night, Donald Trump turns the COVID fairies loose to sprinkle COVID dust over the towns in the US and HE is giving it to everyone. That guy is really mean. He says mean things to people too. That's really super bad.

I heard that you said the Republicans released the virus on the Chinese so that they could blame them, then released it here in this country so that Trump could get it and boost his poll numbers. Is that true Undercat? Truly disturbing if even some of that is true.

Are we done here?

No we are not done because perhaps I didn't make myself clear enough.  Where did I ever say Republicans "released the virus"?  I was just trying to point out how silly it is to say that the Chinese released the virus because why would the Chinese want to release a virus on the Chinese people before they "sent" it to the world?  Also, in a previous post you mentioned how wrong Fauci was to deny mask wearing.  I will postulate here two reasons he may have said that:  1.  Trump already tried once to defund the CDC and even our generally low-class Senate understood that would be a disaster and restored the funds.  The CDC was understandably afraid of losing funding again.  2.  Fauci is a pragmatist and understood that the hospitals were in deep doo-doo because we had a serious mask shortage in the country and wanted masks for medical staff.  It also took awhile to get the studies done on cloth masks and he wasn't going to opine on the utility of mask wearing until the data was there.  Immunologists were constantly on TV giving opinions based on not much because we didn't have experience with this virus.  It seems self-defeating that a scientist can't just say "I don't know" and just shut up.  

[Matthew Prazak]

14 hours ago, Tweety said:

The US recorded a record high number of cases this week.  Utah had a record high number of cases.  Hospitals in Idado are at 99% capacity and stretched to the the max.  

These states are Republican lead and Democrat lead.  The virus doesn't discriminate.

So they say. But record high? What exactly does that mean? In relation to what? I just moved from a very populous county. The percentage of people in the county who were infected. 2 one hundredths of a percent. The papers were moaning about an unchecked spread. Friends of mine in the hospitals......telling me things are gravy. Plenty of beds.

I am a bit skeptical on the reporting not the virus itself. I have seen that firsthand. Nasty little thing. I just keep in mind that I am reading corporate media who have a corporate agenda that doesn't include low bias and accurate reporting. 

 I believe you are right. The character of the virus reporting will change after the election. That is why I am waiting to see if anything helpful comes up. Remdesivir has been given an EUA. Lets see what that does. Nothing else has really gained traction and been helpful.

I think we diagnosed about 50 cases this week in a community of 3000. Those are significant numbers. One of the things working well is sending the ones who are stable to a hotel to recover. Getting them away from the community has helped. Crossing my fingers that the community can pull together and slow this down.

 

[Matthew Prazak]

43 minutes ago, subee said:

Where did I ever say Republicans "released the virus"?  I was just trying to point out how silly it is to say that the Chinese released the virus because why would the Chinese want to release a virus on the Chinese people before they "sent" it to the world?  

And in no way do I believe the Chinese purposely unleashed the virus on themselves prior to the pandemic. They knew about this as early as late November and sat on the information. They disappeared a few folks who were trying to get the word out. 

[Matthew Prazak]

18 hours ago, toomuchbaloney said:

 

Your feelings are noted.  Unfortunately, merely denying the obvious doesn't actually stop us from observing Trump as he engages in spreading lies, propaganda and misinformation about covid. 

 

Your feelings are noted.  Unfortunately, merely denying the obvious doesn't actually stop us from observing Biden as he engages in spreading lies, propaganda and misinformation about covid.

[nursej22, MSN, RN]

This article from the Atlantic is freely available through November 5. It makes a compelling case against Trump. 

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/10/atlantics-endorsement-against-donald-trump/616815/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20201023&silverid-ref=Njk4NjQ1MzA0MzUwS0

This quote sums up how I feel about his president, bolding mine.

"Trump has brought our country low; he has divided our people; he has pitted race against race; he has corrupted our democracy; he has shown contempt for American ideals; he has made cruelty a sacrament; he has provided comfort to propagators of hate; he has abandoned America’s allies; he has aligned himself with dictators; he has encouraged terrorism and mob violence; he has undermined the agencies and departments of government; he has despoiled the environment; he has opposed free speech; he has lied frenetically and evangelized for conspiracism; he has stolen children from their parents; he has made himself an advocate of a hostile foreign power; and he has failed to protect America from a ravaging virus. "

[toomuchbaloney]

1 hour ago, Matthew Prazak said:

Your feelings are noted.  Unfortunately, merely denying the obvious doesn't actually stop us from observing Biden as he engages in spreading lies, propaganda and misinformation about covid.

That's nonsense projection in defense of Trump. As the title and substance of this thread highlights, Trump is the biggest and most prolific purveyor of lies and propaganda about covid.  Your inability to acknowledge that is only evidence of your feelings, not of fact or evidence. 

Please provide evidence of Biden's covid lies, propaganda and misinformation to support your absurd claim.  You've ignored the abundant evidence of Trump's lies but you can't ignore the propaganda about Biden.

I'm excited to examine the evidence you think you have. I'm less excited to have it confirmed that your thoughts are based in emotional support when you fail to provide sources or cough up some right wing propaganda site.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

10/23/2020 Trump on COVID-19 response at rally: "We're rounding the corner. It's going away."    Well "One picture equals a thousand words"

Visiting the COVID Tracking Project one can easily see trends occurring  across the U.S. and  within each individual state

 10/23/2020 Totals for the US

US added 83,010 new COVID-19 + cases;  1, 143 new deaths

U.S. Daily New Positive Cases

 

John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center allows one to drill down on their maps to worldwide, state and county level

US New Cases 10/23/2020

 

Philadelphia County

 

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

28 minutes ago, NRSKarenRN said:

10/23/2020 Trump on COVID-19 response at rally: "We're rounding the corner. It's going away."    Well "One picture equals a thousand words"

Visiting the COVID Tracking Project one can easily see trends occurring  across the U.S. and  within each individual state

 10/23/2020 Totals for the US

US added 83,010 new COVID-19 + cases;  1, 143 new deaths

U.S. Daily New Positive Cases

John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center allows one to drill down on their maps to worldwide, state and county level

US New Cases 10/23/2020

Philadelphia County

Frightening and sad. We can do better to help each other stay alive not infected.