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Dennis OConnor

Coronavirus misinformation, and how scientists can help to fight it - 0 views

www.nature.com/...d41586-020-01834-3

information-fluency fake-covid

shared by Dennis OConnor on 09 Jul 20 - No Cached
  • Dennis OConnor on 09 Jul 20
     
    "Bogus remedies, myths and fake news about COVID-19 can cost lives. Here's how some scientists are fighting back. " Scientists are well placed to help to hold back the tide of COVID-19 misinformation - but should they get involved in time-consuming, and sometimes bruising, efforts to do so, or just stick to doing good research? For those who sign up for the fight, how can coronavirus untruths best be confronted? Should scientists restrict interventions to their areas of expertise? Is countering falsehoods about the pandemic purely a public service, or might there be career benefits to doing so?
Dennis OConnor

The epic battle against coronavirus misinformation and conspiracy theories - 0 views

www.nature.com/...d41586-020-01452-z

covid Factfulness factcheck

shared by Dennis OConnor on 28 May 20 - No Cached
  • Dennis OConnor on 28 May 20
     
    Recommended by Tyler Orion: "For researchers who track how information spreads, COVID-19 is an experimental subject like no other. "This is an opportunity to see how the whole world pays attention to a topic," says Renée diResta at the Stanford Internet Observatory in California. She and many others have been scrambling to track and analyse the disparate falsehoods floating around - both 'misinformation', which is wrong but not deliberately misleading, and 'disinformation', which refers to organized falsehoods that are intended to deceive. "
Dennis OConnor

The Lancet: Statement in support of the scientists, public health professionals, and me... - 1 views

www.thelancet.com/...fulltext

covid research origins-covid-19

shared by Dennis OConnor on 24 Apr 20 - No Cached
  • Statement in support of the scientists, public health professionals, and medical professionals of China combatting COVID-19
  • Dennis OConnor on 24 Apr 20
     
    March 7, 2020: The rapid, open, and transparent sharing of data on this outbreak is now being threatened by rumours and misinformation around its origins. We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin. Scientists from multiple countries have published and analysed genomes of the causative agent, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2),1 and they overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 as have so many other emerging pathogens.11, 12 This is further supported by a letter from the presidents of the US National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine13 and by the scientific communities they represent. Conspiracy theories do nothing but create fear, rumours, and prejudice that jeopardise our global collaboration in the fight against this virus. We support the call from the Director-General of WHO to promote scientific evidence and unity over misinformation and conjecture.14 We want you, the science and health professionals of China, to know that we stand with you in your fight against this virus.
Dennis OConnor

New WhatsApp chatbot unleashes power of worldwide fact-checking organizations to fight ... - 0 views

www.poynter.org/...abase-of-more-than-4000-hoaxes

factcheck confirmation-bias

shared by Dennis OConnor on 05 May 20 - No Cached
  • Dennis OConnor on 05 May 20
     
    Recommended by Carl Heine, Ph.D. "ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (May 4, 2020) - The Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) today launches a chatbot on WhatsApp to connect its millions of users with the translated work of more than 80 fact-checking organizations worldwide. By using the IFCN's chatbot on WhatsApp, citizens can easily check whether content about COVID-19 has already been rated as false by professional fact-checkers."
Dennis OConnor

The Spread of Misinformation - 0 views

21cif.com/...feature

fake misinformation evaluation

shared by Dennis OConnor on 04 Apr 21 - No Cached
  • Dennis OConnor on 04 Apr 21
     
    From Carl Heine at 21cif.com
Dennis OConnor

Researchers Cast Doubt On Theory Of Coronavirus Lab Accident : Goats and Soda : NPR - 1 views

www.npr.org/...ry-of-coronavirus-lab-accident

covid research origins-covid-19

shared by Dennis OConnor on 24 Apr 20 - No Cached
  • April 23, 2020
  • Virus researchers say there is virtually no chance that the new coronavirus was released as result of a laboratory accident in China or anywhere else.
  • after corresponding with 10 leading scientists who collect samples of viruses from animals in the wild, study virus genomes and understand how lab accidents can happen, NPR found that an accidental release would have required a remarkable series of coincidences and deviations from well-established experimental protocols.
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • All of the evidence points to this not being a laboratory accident," says Jonna Mazet, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Davis and director of a global project to watch for emerging viruses called PREDICT.
  • all believe that the virus was transmitted between animals and humans in nature, as has happened in previous outbreaks — from Ebola to the Marburg virus — and with other known coronaviruses such as SARS and MERS.
  • Regardless, genetic analysis shows the virus began to spread sometime in the fall or winter of 2019, says Robert Garry, a microbiologist at Tulane University. Those same analyses refuted an earlier theory that the virus was genetically engineered in a laboratory.
  • the exact route from nature to people remains a mystery,
  • Rather than a laboratory misstep, researchers believe that this new coronavirus reached humans in the same way that other coronaviruses have: through "zoonotic spillover," or humans picking up pathogens from wildlife.
  • The CDC estimates that 6 out of 10 infectious diseases in people come from animals, including diseases caused by coronaviruses.
  • "As we change the landscape to suit our purposes, we come more and more into contact with viruses and other pathogens that we don't have much exposure to," says Dr. Brian Bird, associate director of the OneHealth Institute at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and a former CDC scientist.
  • "Zoonotic transmission" or "zoonotic spillover" generally happens three ways: through excretion (feces that comes into contact with humans), slaughter (meat consumed by humans) and vector-borne (an animal biting a human). But even under these circumstances, the virus must then overcome barriers within the human body, defeating the immune system, to successfully replicate and transmit between humans themselves.
  • Despite the evidence, misinformation about the virus's origins continue to proliferate. For Daszak, who has worked on other outbreaks, the pattern is all too familiar: "Every time we get a new virus emerging, we have people that say, 'This could have come from a lab,' " he says.
  • "It's a real shame that the conspiracy theories can get to the level they've got with policymakers,"
  • The political heat has strained the very scientific collaborations meant to detect these viruses as they emerge, warns Jonna Mazet.
  • Daszak says the time for finger-pointing is over. "We have a bat virus in my neighborhood in New York killing people," he says. "Let's get real about this."
  • Dennis OConnor on 24 Apr 20
     
    "April 23, 2020"
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