Paper Sample on Unraveling COVID-19: Origins, Spread, and Battling Misinformation

The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Wuhan, China, and sprayed nationwide before it became a global pandemic. Following the analysis of all the confirmed cases treated and diagnosed in February 2020, they were retrieved from the China Infectious Disease Information System. COVID-19, whose source is traced to Hubei's wet markets after December 2019, spread like wildfire across all 31 provinces in 1386 counties in China ("Chinese-virologist-covid -19"). However, the epidemic curve regarding the onset of signs and symptoms peak was January 23-26. Due to the disease's mystery, 1716 health officers contracted the virus by February 11, 2020 ("Chinese-virologist-covid -19 "). The paper focuses on investigating the COVID-19 outbreak's origin alongside determining the set of fake news regarding the virus.

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Alongside other institutions such as The World Health Organization (WHO), ABC News has committed itself to identifying the origins of the Coronavirus. Most of the early studies were conducted in Wuhan since it acted as the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 origin, before considering other parts of China. Investigating the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial to prevent future viral spillovers. However, the investigation is a daunting task since different researchers think it originated in bats.

However, how it jumped to people remains a mystery; it can not be scientifically proven yet. The concept relies much on following a list of coronaviruses that have been transferred from an intermediate animal host. For example, in 2002, the virus leading to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) originated from raccoon dogs and civets to people ("Chinese-virologist-covid -19").

After investigating the animal and Huanan meat, which most people diagnosed with Covid 19 had eaten or visited, the virus origins can not yet be confirmed. However, even though research conducted on sampled frozen animal carcasses did not approve of the virus, environmental samples taken from Huanan sewage and drain tested positive for the virus (“Investigating the origin”). It can be viewed as shading some light to the research; it does not confirm its origins.

As observed, the COVID-19 epidemic spreads quickly. For example, it took 30 days only for the virus to expand to Mainland China from Hubei. Research portrays that the spread was vibrant due to the December holidays. However, the Covid 19 pandemic has not resulted in challenges relating to health systems alone; it has also triggered the surge of multiple hoaxes, rumors, and misinformation regarding outcomes, etiology, cure, and prevention of disease (“Investigating the origin”). The pandemic has raised numerous conspiracy theories, not only about its origin but also regarding its treatment, prevention, and diagnosis of the virus.

False information spread intentionally via social media, mass media, messaging, and text has been reported that various covert operations were the primary sources of generating panic and distrust in other countries about the origin of the virus. Also, this news has been propagated by politicians, celebrities, and other public figures. According to Cornell University, the largest driver of the fake news was US President Donald Trump.

Apart from that, there exist commercial scams regarding supportive preventives of the Covid 19, offering at-home tests and miracle curses to handle the virus. The fake news and misinformation several people claim the virus's origin was a leaked bioweapon from the laboratory (“Investigating the origin”). Other common theories claim that the virus was a spy operation, a population control scheme, and the negative impact of 5g upgrades in cellular networks.

Also, there is fake news regarding the investigation, such as tracing or finding an animal with this type of virus, capable of infecting people with SARS-CoV-2. First, there is a high probability of not finding a "smoking bat". Determining the Covid virus's origins can take undefined time due to the delicate political situation between the United States and China. While the Chinese government strives to prove that it is not their virus, "a China virus," President Donald Trump views it as a "Chinese Virus" (Adanes et al.).

The most common spread of misinformation is promoting erroneous practices and masking healthy behaviors that lead to an increase and the spread of the virus. Also, it results in poor mental and physical health outcomes among different sets of individuals. There have been myriad incidents globally that are linked to the COVID-19 rumors. The spread of fake news concerning the pandemic occurs due to the frontline healthcare providers being equipped with accurate information and current research findings.

The mass media plays a critical role in the spread of these hoaxes and rumors. Media alongside community-based organizations and healthcare organizations lack a common platform for sharing and disseminating authentic news about Covid 19 (Adanes et al.). Also, media platforms fail to determine whether the shared content comes from a trusted source. Most trending news regarding the virus that is shared via the media platforms is hoaxes and rumors.

An example of Covid 19 rumors:

Corona pandemic has been widely faced with misinformation, especially in African countries, as indicated by the South African Post making it hard to impose better control measures for the virus.

Ways of Curbing the Spread of Fake News Regarding Covid 19.

Rumors and hoaxes must be eliminated from online platforms that spread information regarding the virus. Only scientifically proven information should be shared to improve COVID-19 awareness to the public. Apart from that, advanced technologies such as text-mining approaches and natural language processing would assist in identifying online content regarding the virus that has a bias or has no basis. All the fake news must be removed from social media platforms using the latest data mining algorithms.

For example, Reddit, Amazon, and Twitter have applied these algorithms as product review methods and removed fake accounts. The latter participates in spreading hoaxes and rumors about the pandemic. Thus, online providers and social media platforms should implement these measures to eliminate potentially unethical rumors and misinformation.

Furthermore, personnel and online portals incorporated with the propagation and production of such misinformation should be charged in the court of law and brought to justice. Law enforcement agencies and national and local regulatory authorities should acknowledge the general population's challenges when they do not differentiate fake news from real (Adanes et al.). They need to address these issues comprehensively by applying mechanisms such as arresting individuals who spread the misinformation.

Works Cited

Adanes, Christine, and P.H. Chandrasekhar. "Coronavirus (COVID-19, 2019-NCoV)." The Encyclopedia of Infectious Diseases, Facts On File, 2020. Histoahnry Research Center, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=&itemid=&articleId=587751.

“Investigating the origin of the COVID-19 outbreak l ABC News.” YouTube, uploaded by ABCNews, 17 Apr. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMv1F6BXcEE&ab_channel=ABCNews.