Fast-spreading Covid-19 infodemic an added danger

I used to love entertaining the idea that one day aliens would try to make contact with us —  we being the intelligent life on earth.

Lately, however, I have been thinking that there is no way any alien could think we are intelligent or rational at all!

You would think that while facing an unknown pathogen like the novel coronavirus, people would be circumspect and treat information with great care because our very lives depend on how we respond to the disease.

But no, people have instead generated what is called an “infodemic” — a pandemic of toxic and fast- spreading misinformation that overwhelms public discourse.

The infodemic refers to the endless stream of junk information that pollutes the public sphere and makes it that much harder for people to apply common sense to learning about this unknown disease.

The infodemic is characterised by the extraordinary pace at which absurd, outlandish and quite frankly bizarre theories are generated and distributed across the social media platforms.

The BBC reported that the infodemic was particularly perpetuated by “extremist political and fringe medical communities [which] have tried to exploit the pandemic online”.

I think however, the infodemic is not only pushed by ideological extremists.

The infodemic is not so much about the simple battle between factual versus incorrect information.

In reality, there will be a lot of incorrect information coming out about the virus because it is unknown.

Scientists, doctors and other experts are learning as they go along. They will get things wrong.

But the fact that the experts are learning on the job seems to be precisely the problem. When a disease is new, the scientists who all have sound credentials may often contradict each other.

Instead of seeing such differences as part of the process of building scientific knowledge on diseases, many people have taken contradictory information to show official government or scientific knowledge  cannot be trusted in this pandemic.

One example of a clear shift is that at one point, the ventilator was seen as the most important piece of medical equipment in the fight against Covid-19.

Now doctors are saying they are developing other protocols as ventilators may be harming the lungs of some coronavirus patients.

Another issue is that the virus hits various parts of the world differently.

In April, the South African Medical Research Council had written that: “It was projected that if the SARS-CoV-2-19 virus was allowed to spread unchecked to the extent that 40% of people in the country became infected, more than 350,000 people could die.”

This may yet happen, but we do not know. It seems unlikely, given that Africa at large seems to not be experiencing superfast spreads. Lockdowns have clearly had an impact but researchers will still have to assess other factors.

Sweden, which has not had a lockdown, seems to have managed to institute social distancing with little government force.

India has had a lockdown, but for a populous country, it does not appear that there is widespread death yet.

The fact that the pandemic is not panning out in the way that some experts have projected does not mean there is a group of shadowy villains somewhere who are deliberately lying to scare the public.

All that it means is that the models are wrong and new ones need to be developed.

Another reality is that scientists and politicians do not have the same mandates. Scientists can advise on the disease, but politicians have to make decisions about society as a whole.

The contradictions that emerge between scientists and politicians arise from different mandates, not simply from power games — whether it is between Medical Research Council president Prof Glenda Gray and health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, or US director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr Anthony Fauci and US President Donald Trump.

As we move to Level 3, my plea remains, let us stay humble, we do not know this disease.

Apply common sense, reject conspiracy and think carefully to protect your life.

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