Disinformation of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Introduction
Covid-19
COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus that causes symptoms such as shortness of breath, fever, cough, etc. The disease mainly has effect on those 65 and older along with people with underlying health conditions, but the disease is still largely unstudied. It is mainly spread by person to person contact, mainly through respiratory droplets that come from coughing, sneezing, or talking. Because of how it is spread, a major way of combatting the virus is limiting in person contact and communication. The virus originated in Wuhan, China, and it likely originated in an animal, which was most likely a bat.
Covid-19 Pandemic
On March, 11 2019, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 crisis a global pandemic. In the months following the shutdown, the entire United States was shut down to help prevent the spread of the virus in an unprecedented move. This caused the economy of the United States to come to a halt and caused the worst recession seen since the Great Recession of 2009. The lockdown of the country caused a great deal of controversy as small businesses everywhere struggled to stay afloat without being able to open their doors to the public. As states wished to reopen their economies, the information about the Coronavirus such as new case numbers, new death tolls, and testing positivity rates in certain areas were vital to arguments of each side of the aisle. Because this data was important to each argument, there were instances of it being skewed to fit different agendas.
