5G is not the cause of coronavirus infection, but rumors spread like a virus
Posted by: Gina Mantica
People’s fears about 5G technology are reasonable. Such technologies emit radiation, even at low levels. However, 5G is not that different from his 4G, and 5G does not cause COVID-19, despite such rumors spreading rapidly around the world.
Researchers need a better understanding of how this misinformation spreads to hone intervention efforts and prevent misperceptions from becoming entrenched. In the virtual world of society, it is more important than ever to prevent misinformation, especially technical ones.
A research team led by Elaine Soesi, a faculty fellow at the Hariri Institute, is using the same epidemiological methods for modeling disease transmission to understand how COVID-19 misinformation spread. investigated. Nsoesie, along with his Nina Cesare, a postdoctoral fellow at the BU School of Public Health, and other scientists from Harvard Medical School and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale, recently published their findings in the Journal of Medical Internet. Published in Research.
The research team used Google Trends to examine the prevalence of COVID-19 misinformation in eight English-speaking countries, including the United States. Researchers focused on myths that the World Health Organization (WHO) said on its website “debunked”, including the links between COVID-19 and alcohol, ginger root, the sun, 5G and hydroxychloroquine. Ta.
What Nsoesie and his colleagues found was that misinformation about some COVID-19 infections spread exponentially across countries, much like the coronavirus itself.
This rapid adoption is not surprising. During the early months of 2020, most people were scrambling for all kinds of information about a mysterious virus. “The rapid spread of all information at the beginning of the pandemic provided a perfect opportunity for misinformation to invade the public conscience,” he said. Cesare.
Thankfully, debunking myths online seems to be effective in stopping their spread. As soon as WHO public health officials responded to misinformation about COVID-19 on the WHO website, the number of Google searches for that misinformation dropped significantly.
However, the research team was surprised to find that there seemed to be consistent misconceptions about 5G technology globally. The “COVID-19 and his 5G” myth spread faster than any other rumor they investigated. “We didn’t expect 5G to be so prominent in the misinformation,” Nsoushi said.
What makes this even more surprising is that 5G technology is not entirely new. Rather, it is a continuous development based on international standards for communications technologies that preceded it, such as 4G.
“5G is a new standard in communications technology. The use of different frequencies and multiple antennas allows for faster communications,” said David Starobinski, a professor in Boston University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Masu. “This is more than a revolution, it’s an evolution in communications technology,” he says.
5G technology is not entirely new, but there are several reasons why people believe it is the cause of COVID-19.
First, there is little transparency among communications technology researchers, leading to institutional mistrust. “I think this belief has something to do with a kind of distrust of government and the ability to tie this narrative around 5G technology into conversations about government surveillance,” Cesare said. This mistrust remains a concern as myths about vaccines being microchipped have exploded on Facebook.
Another explanation for why people are linking 5G to COVID-19 is that such technology emits invisible electromagnetic waves that people fear could affect their health. . “People are much more worried about things [like radiation] They can’t see,” Starobinski said.
Although exposure to high-power radiation can be harmful to health, Starobinski asserts that there are safety guidelines regarding radiation from communication technologies and 5G should be safe to use. “People have been using smartphones for years, and we have seen no evidence that this radiation has caused a significant increase in illness or hospitalizations from use,” he said. He also said that “regulatory authorities have set limits on the radiated output of 5G devices, but additional safety studies may still be warranted.”
And such radiation does not cause coronavirus infection. COVID-19 is a viral disease derived from the coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2.
To prevent similar myths from spreading in the future, experts must consistently and clearly correct common misconceptions. And greater transparency from both government agencies and researchers could prevent misinformation from taking root.
“we [researchers] “To reduce the spread of misinformation in the media, we need to humanize the conversation around misinformation and continue to share truthful information,” Nsosi said.
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