More than one virus and less than a plan

Fake news is arguably the most dangerous and longest lasting virus spreading through our communities. You don’t die of it (directly) but it can destabilise and distort public opinion leading to knee-jerk reactions from politicians. Unfortunately the reverse is also true; that knee-jerk political statements can condition public opinion.

In some cases fake news supports a campaign objective…

“In the wake of the pain, economic loss, and unprecedented global suffering caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, I am greatly saddened that my name and that of Kyoto University have been used to spread false accusations and misinformation,” Professor Tasuku Honjo, co-awardee of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine said in a statement released on 28th April by Kyoto University.

The false claim circulating on Facebook is that Prof. Honjo said that COVID-19 was the product of a Chinese laboratory and was man-made. Fake news like this is common on social media and reposted by those more interested in feeding their prejudice than checking the facts. On 30th April, Donald Trump contradicted a rare on-the-record statement from his own intelligence community by claiming that he has seen evidence that gives him a "high degree of confidence" the novel coronavirus originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, but declined to provide details to back up his assertion. The Facebook post about Prof. Honjo was probably the ‘evidence’ Donald Trump was shy to acknowledge.

Donald Trump is building his election campaign on the message, “it wasn’t my fault so many Americans died, it was those damned Chinese”.

This follows a consistent campaign and a trade war against China by the Trump White House. In 2019, 60% of U.S. adults had a negative opinion of China, up from 47% in 2018 and the highest share since Pew Research Center began asking Americans this question in 2005. He also claims that the Chinese failed to reveal the extent of the epidemic in China. This is arguably true but is also a mirror of what both the US and the UK did in hiding the real extend of their fatalities.

No one is saying that the Chinese come out of the coronavirus smelling of roses, but it is diversionary to blame the effects of a pandemic on its most likely source. As a point of interest, the highly fatal ‘Spanish’ flu of 1918 is thought to have originated in the USA with up to 50 million dying in the second phase autumn period of 1918.

Many other countries have heeded the warnings and dealt with the COVID-19 virus much better than the USA or the UK, which have suffered the most deaths from this latest virus, almost half the total global deaths so far. Donald Trump famously declared in February that the virus is “going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle – it will disappear” and that it was like the flu “many people die of the flu every year”. Recently he dangerously advised injecting disinfectant to fight the virus and then claimed it was a sarcastic comment. Does anyone listen to what the President says any more? If they do, let’s hope it’s a small minority of those who vote in the November Presidential election.

So what next? Let’s stop electioneering and playing to the gallery. Let’s get real and work out a sensible plan!

We will all only come out of lockdown if we can trust the assurances and preparations made by our governments. So far confidence is low. Two thirds of the UK public said they will feel uncomfortable going to large public gatherings, such as sports or music events once controls are lifted, and 61 per cent expressed unease at the idea of using public transport or going to bars and restaurants. Less than half who are currently employed feel comfortable going back to work. (Ipsos/Mori poll 30th April 2020).

Singapore and Heathrow airport are calling for some kind of certification to prove people are not infectious. Remote temperature sensing at airports has proven to be unreliable and the current programme of testing in the USA or the UK is insufficient to provide this level of assurance. Contrary to what Donald Trump tells us, there is unlikely to be a vaccine available in 2020. Work proceeds in many countries but clinical trials and massive production capacity have yet to be established.

In order to end the lockdown with any degree of certainty that a ‘second wave’ will not occur, much work is needed. Reliable and credible measures need to be announced. False promises, conspiracy theories and fake news can all be put aside if we have a comprehensive plan with believable delivery dates. So far, plans to release citizens from lockdown lack and detail about how they will be safe from a return of the virus.