Viral outbreak: focus on trusted info sources

Not enough protective equipment, not enough food, not enough police enforcement, not enough hospital beds, not enough ventilators, not enough quinine, not enough plasma…

Loads of ? not enough ? when it comes to Covid-19, except for information !  

With social media and 24/7 media, we are all assaulted with Covid-19 related information in such a way that even the head of the WHO said, in a recent press conference, that they were facing both a pandemic and an infodemic.  In these days of infobesity, the source of the information is what makes the real difference.

So, one must of course focus on facts, but also on where these facts come from.  

(In terms of trusted medical sources on the actual disease, the WHO and the CDC remain solid sources which I like leveraging on. As far as I am concerned, anything else is to be taken with a pinch of salt.  Or two. Or three.)

And one must be careful of reports that are relayed on social media – even by well-meaning citizens.  This is not the time for interpretations or subjectivity. But in these chaotic days when we are all, at some level, dealing with fear and worry about our own health and the health of our loved ones, as well as simultaneously experiencing deep changes in our lifestyles, subjectivity can seep in very easily.

So, before you chose to trust a source and relay info, protect yourself and others and check your sources against:

1. Their authority and credibility in that specific matter (qualification, occupation, affiliated to a university, media group, organisation, etc);
2. The timeliness of the information published by your source, as “facts” change rapidly as research evolves;
3. Ensure if the person is presenting facts or bias topics.

Hope this will help you whole we all navigate through Covid-19?  

Marina Ythier-Jacobsz

(Managing partner, Maluti Communications)