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Panel takes another look at the health care 'infodemic' bred by COVID misinformation

Lucinda Schreiber for NPR

The dangers of official public information being easily be viewed with equal authority to your neighbor's opinion can breed misinformation and mistrust.

This episode of What’s Health Got to Do With It takes another look at the health misinformation digital landscape.

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's information on Twitter can easily be viewed with equal authority to your neighbor's opinion on a topic, misinformation and mistrust breed easily.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in huge missteps by the CDC and the U.S. Department of Health.

Many folks were left confused and allowed some unproven and dangerous advice to garner an audience, so much so that the U.S. surgeon general declared health misinformation to be a significant public health challenge.

Low COVID-19 vaccination rates in kids, the recent outbreaks of polio and measles, court cases on patients demanding ivermectin for late -tage COVID and even assaults on flight attendants over mask mandates are prime examples,

Guests:

  • Kristy Roschke, managing director, News Co-Lab, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University in Phoenix.
  • Dr. Nancy Staats, retired anesthesiologist and activist in Atlantic Beach.
  • Stephanie Colombini, health news reporter for WUSF Public Media and Health News Florida.


To hear the conversation, click on the Listen button above.

Copyright 2022 WJCT News 89.9. To see more, visit WJCT News 89.9.

Katherine Hobbs
WJCT NEWS - SUMMER INTERN 2020