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’

Quote

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.

 

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

More misinformation stated to maskless rally attendees---- "Numbers are Incredible..."  NC death rate going up.

North Carolina  Covid stats  10/23/2020

 

 

 

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

 

 

[toomuchbaloney]

Trump is a corrupt liar. He is campaigning upon lies, misinformation, propaganda and conspiracy theory, peppered with dog whistles and gas lighting.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

22 hours ago, Matthew Prazak said:

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.

 

It means what it says it means that the United States recorded the most cases in a single day that we have ever recorded.  

I didn't say the nature of reporting would change.   I  used the example from the associated press, which is mainstream press,  as a matter of fact way of reporting that I think will remain.

That cases are rising now while the President says we are turning the corner is big news.  I don't think that's a corporate agenda.  

He might be right, it has to rise before it falls and we might be reaching a peak.  I can't wait to hear the "see I told you so" if the downslide happens to coincide with the election.  

I do think with each wave the scenario is a bit different.  The first wave in New York was a near disaster.  Here in Florida where we were part of a 2nd wave it got quite bad, especially in South Florida, but here in Central Florida we were able to maintain. 

Now the midwest is going through something similar.  

Here in Florida cases are on the rise as is the rate of positivity, the number of infections seems stuck at a stubborn 2.5 to 5 thousand a day but not rising at the levels it did during the Summer.  Hospitalizations remain stable.  Were I work covid travel nurses that were hired in the Summer are floating to other units because the covid unit census remains low.  This is a reflection of better treatment modalities, that nursing homes once burned with covid have got a handle on it, and that it's a younger more healthy age bracket that's catching it.

I agree, you have to look at the population size before getting excited.  In a country of nearly 330 million 80,000 positive cases really is a low percentage.   This is why rate of positivity is a good number to look at as well.  One has to look at the bigger picture rather than focus on one number...deaths, hospitalizations, rate of positivity, etc.

I live in a county of about one million and we're the most densely populated county in Florida (but not the most populous...that's South Florida) and we had 197 new cases.  Not too bad but last month it was below 100 a day.  Our death rate is extremely low here.   We generally have one or two deaths a day (but deaths tend to follow a rise in cases by a week or two)   For a while we were the poster child for low rate of positivity for a populous county here in Florida.  Our two week rate of positivity was 2.5% and is now 4.9%.  I remember during the Summer people would wait hours to get tested.  When I got tested last month it took 15 minutes.  Cases dropped so much that testing center closed and combined with another.

Anyway, I've been pretty dismayed at how an infectious disease has become a political issue with different views from Republicans and Democrats when it is a medical disease.  

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

On 10/24/2020 at 11:26 AM, Matthew Prazak said:

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. 

Now that's something I can go along with and I agree that the liberal news media has become boring and repetitive in their reportage of Covid to the detriment of other issues, BUT, nothing will improve until we have this madman out of the WH and start institute a federal program that releases scientific data and acts on it.  Yes, it's true that a very small percentage of the population suffers physically from the disease, but even this small percentage can create hardships on hospitals and staff because we are such a large population.  When the hospitals are busy, you know that it will affect the economy negatively so unless we disrupt this "circus rhythym", absolutely nothing will get better.  The news today reports that Pence will continue with his rallies even though two of his closest advisors have tested positive.  It's as is the Trump WH is actually TRYING to make things worst.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

It is interesting the difference between Pence and how he responded to a possible exposure and Harris.  I guess since he tested negative and will monitored it's okay.  But really the behavior at the top hasn't been one to model. 

I don't think Covid is being reported by the liberal media to the detriment of other stories.  Actually I noticed that those stories went away.  It's only with the recent surge and all the people in Washington catching it that it's made it back to the headlines.  The election has been a bigger story.

In my opinion.

I will add that I wonder what people who think numbers here will go down after the election and that it's all an "election infection made up by the media" think of what's going on in Europe.   Spain is enforcing new restrictions, hospitals in Belgium are having a hard time.  How is this related to the United States election.  Are they in cahoots with the media to create panic to get rid of Trump?

 

 

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

On 10/20/2020 at 2:12 PM, Matthew Prazak said:

And with all respect, none of your business what I do.

 

You’re a family practice NP in taos nm. Assume you don’t have any experience on the pointy end of the covid spear.  You used your real name on an interwebs forum? Seriously?!

[MunoRN, RN]

On 10/24/2020 at 8:28 AM, 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.

Can you give some examples?

[nursel56]

On 10/20/2020 at 11:12 AM, Matthew Prazak said:

Silly to blame one man for the effects of a virus the Chinese unleashed on the world and lied about initially.

Anyhow, with COVID, there is so much BS going on. You probably didn't notice as you are consuming what appears to be news from the lamestream media. Deaths per million, total tests, infections per million. All those aren't far off from other developed countries. I mean there is a lot going on in the world of COVID that doesn't make the lamestream media because it will not sell advertising. Those guys are about revenue and viewership. Facts take a backseat to that. 

And with all respect, none of your business what I do.

 

Perhaps we should just go ahead and say it's fine for a leader to spout approximately the same level of BS as the unsorted media collectively.

The study didn't assign blame or evaluate the credibility of statistic sources. It found that very often when an article mentions "misinformation" it mentions Donald Trump. The article might be trying to make the point that anyone who believes Donald Trump spouts misinformation probably burned down a police station in Minneapolis or mounted a domestic terror operation to sink Trump boats in Lake Tyler, Texas. 

The study included traditional media, social media, podcasts, radio and crawled webpages all over the world, filtered by language only.

I don't think terms such as "lamestream media" or even MSM have much relevance when such a huge variety of locations and media structures are included where those terms are unknown or what level of censorship and/or propaganda is in the mix.

The reason for the association with Trump is pretty obvious, though. The study covered January through May 2020. Trump has offloaded exponentially more misinformation since then. Most of it at those Task Force briefings that started in April.

 

 

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

12 hours ago, MunoRN said:

Can you give some examples?

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/media/heres-the-misinformation-joe-biden-will-spread-in-his-coronavirus-shadow-briefings/

It's hard to find where Biden has outright lied about Covid, but in some instances he and Democrats have been found to distort and exaggerate.  

To me it's not a good tit for tat when talking about Trump's lies to say "But Biden does it too" because there really is no comparison.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/10/trumps-lies-about-coronavirus/608647/

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

18 hours ago, emtb2rn said:

You’re a family practice NP in taos nm. Assume you don’t have any experience on the pointy end of the covid spear.  You used your real name on an interwebs forum? Seriously?!

Oh dear.

[toomuchbaloney]

6 hours ago, Tweety said:

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/media/heres-the-misinformation-joe-biden-will-spread-in-his-coronavirus-shadow-briefings/

It's hard to find where Biden has outright lied about Covid, but in some instances he and Democrats have been found to distort and exaggerate.  

To me it's not a good tit for tat when talking about Trump's lies to say "But Biden does it too" because there really is no comparison.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/10/trumps-lies-about-coronavirus/608647/

Yep.

Classic projection.