In the case of the Covid-19 pandemic, both an information overload and information void cultivated the conditions for misleading myths to go viral. The origins of COVID-19 misinformation are complex and hard to trace. Much like many other disease pandemics in the modern era (1815-), a range of factors facilitated the emergence of mass misinformation:
These factors enabled seeds of distrust to be sown and grown over the course of the pandemic. Many myths still circulate today.
When analyzed using a historical framework, we can recognize that the categories of misinformation most frequently shared have remained almost completely unchanged over the past two hundred years. Most health misinformation during pandemics centers around the origin, transmission, control, treatment or cure of the disease. Specific myths play on fears and speak to popular ideologies and values of the period. This means misinformation often directly or indirectly references broader concurrent social, political and medical issues affecting a population at the time.
Consuming COVID-19 misinformation, for example, can cause severe physical harm to our bodies. Misinformation has been shown to cause us to reject important health interventions (like having vaccines or wearing face masks), take dangerous alternative therapies (like drinking bleach, alcohol or ivermectin) or even instigate violence (through riots, protests and direct attacks).