Understanding the Origins and Impacts of COVID-19 Misinformation and Data Overload

Keywords: COVID-19, Misinformation, data dashboards, health policy, peer review, public health
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 2/26/2022 03:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/26/2022 05:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 29

Abstract

The overload of widely accessible health data during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has fueled a misinformation crisis. This has created a new set of issues surrounding the dissemination of health information, the lack of health literacy, the authority of scientists, and the rhetoric of “real science” utilized by politicians to justify their policies. As a result, public health measures aimed at reducing the spread and related deaths caused by the pandemic, are frequently contested. Through examples of preprints, non-peer-reviewed articles, and online dashboards, this paper aims to understand the challenge of misleading data interpretation and spread of misinformation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to recognize and prevent the future spread of new misinformation.