Prognosis
Mistrust, Rumor and Conspiracy Theories Hinder U.S. Virus Fight
- Disregard of science could undermine public-health response
- Poll finds partisan divide: Republicans more skeptical of risk
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No one has been diagnosed with the new coronavirus in Alabama, but unfounded social-media rumors run so wild that the state public health department assigned a staffer to stamp them out.
In Texas, Houston and Harris County officials have been fighting misinformation since January, after false claims that the virus was circulating in the Asiatown neighborhood. Time and money is also being frittered away in New York, where the attorney general demanded that televangelist Jim Bakker stop falsely promoting pricey pills as a cure. And Bakker’s company was one of seven that received letters Monday from a federal task force, warning them against claiming that their teas, oils and tinctures will cure the virus.