Impact of Misinformation on COVID 19 Pandemic Management
Introduction
The world has experienced several pandemics that have threatened global health. Most of these pandemics caused the World health authorities existing to declare them a global health emergency. In 2002, the world experienced an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) followed by Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2002 (Singhal, 2020). Health authorities in various countries have been committing significant efforts in the management of the pandemic. However, there have been various challenges that have been curtailing these efforts. One of them is the misinformation that people consumed in social media from those who argue from their point of view. The only existing way of containing the virus’s spread is by observing the scientifically proved guidelines that WHO has issued around the world. Any misinformation about the pandemic has the potential to impede the health authorities from successfully fighting the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Background
The outbreak of human coronavirus, COVID-19 has made WHO to declare the disease a global health emergency. As the organization puts efforts to contain the spread of the virus, the wrong information published by people on social media about the pandemic makes its work even harder. There are cases where some individuals claim that the infection can be treated by drinking alcohol. This has made many people reluctant to observe the guidelines issued by the organization in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus. The containment efforts of the spread of this pandemic require collective responsibility; however, if the citizens fail to play their part in observing the precautionary measures, the management efforts by WHO will prove futile.
Purpose
This study aims to explore the impact of misinformation on the management of COVID 19 pandemic, which was first reported in December 2019 in Wuhan. From the epicenter, the disease has spread throughout the world, suspending several operations. For instance, the U.S, Spain, Russia, and Italy decided to declare a total lockdown to curtail the virus’s massive spread. Wuhan, the disease’s origin, was put under total lockdown for more than two weeks to prevent people from coming into contact with each other as the mode is the mode of transmission for the infection. Currently, public gatherings stand suspended in many countries as one of the control measures that the government has put in place. People are also required to observe social distancing, sanitize, and wear face masks while in public.
Literature Review
SARS-COV-2 is thought to have evolved from coronaviruses found in animals just as MERS and SARS. People of all ages can contract the virus. However, older people and those with underlying infections are at higher risks of a severe form of COVID-19. The speed of transmission for SARS-COV-2 is higher compared to that of SARS-COV-1. This might be due to the higher accumulation of the virus in the respiratory. However, no one has immunity for COVID-19, which implies that many people are susceptible to it. The current data from WHO shows that more than 5% of those who have contracted the infection have died. Some individual claims that the virus COVID 19 can be cured by drinking alcohol. However, this is not the case as the alcohol-based sanitizer’s alcohol content is effective in killing the viruses that are outside the body only.
Coronaviruses are responsible for the cause of 5% to 10% acute respiratory diseases. However, some can be healthy, but carriers of the infection (Bai et al., 2020). The clinical diagnosis of the novel coronavirus shows some similarities with other human viruses. The WHO defines COVID-19 patients as those showing symptoms such as fever, shortness of breath, and cough. Such symptoms manifest 14 days since the time of contracting the infection. These symptoms might not tell if an individual is COVID-19 positive since other diseases can show similar symptoms. So the individuals who manifest such symptoms require hospitalization for laboratory tests. The respiratory specimen is collected from a suspected person and examined for the existence of the viral particles. The WHO has laid down guidelines for curbing the spread of the disease; these include contact tracing, controls in health centers, raising awareness among people, and the wearing of protectives.
Coronavirus disease 2019 COVID-19 has been declared a global pandemic. There exist several clinical parameters of the management of COVID-19, which need optimization. However, the scarce printed information and the misinformation on social media hinder this development. The main aim of this literature review is to present current and accredited researches concerning the elementary sciences of SARS-CoV-2, clinical manifestation, public health intervention, and current epidemiological developments (Harapan et al., 2020). The review will explore the viron structure of SARS-CoV-2 and the current relevant details pertinent to the nursing practice.
Viron structure
SARS-CoV 2 is a member of the beta coronavirus family, which is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA. The virus has a diameter of between 15-200 mm. it has a genomic RNA of 30 KBKB and encoded structural protein referred to as Spike Glycoprotein consisting of three S1-S2 heterodimers binding angiotensin-converting enzyme 2(ACE2) receptor found on type II pneumocyte
Clinical manifestation of COVID-19
COVID-19 symptomatology was discussed comprehensively in WHO-China joint report. The report pointed out that about 64% of the patients suffering from COVID-19 shows cough, and about 35% produces sputum. Patients also presented symptoms such as nasal congestion, sore throat, and dyspnea. Some patients experience constitutional symptoms like chills, muscle aches, and headaches.
Research methodology
This study will use a literature review method to obtain information that will be critical in developing the idea surrounding the topic. The articles that will be analyzed in the study will be retrieved from the WHO website, google scholar, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) website, and Wolters Kluwer Coronavirus Resources. To ensure the validity of the information used in this research, the articles that within the past year will be used.
The implication for nursing practice
Nurses work in multi-disciplinary teams to provide quality care for patients. However, COVID-19 is an emerging problem that nurses know little about, and therefore they may end up contracting the disease while attending to the patients. They are a group that suffers much if the public is waylaid by misinformation into thinking that they will handle the infection by themselves. This study helps inform the public of the consequences that false information might bring on their health, thus changing their behaviors to conform to the expectations of the authorities charged with the management of COVID 19 pandemic. This will reduce the case of the infection among them and thus reduce the workload and threat of contracting the virus by the nurses. (Watkins, 2020).
Conclusion
Things are not the way they were last year in the world. The WHO has laid down guidelines for social distancing, ban on all public gatherings, and wearing face masks in public. This is because of the novel human coronavirus known as COVID-19, which started in Wuhan, China has spread all over the world. Recently, the WHO declared the disease a global health pandemic based on the number of deaths that it has caused and the speed with which it spreads. The infection is passed from one person to another through contact with the infected droplets dispensed through coughing and sneezing. Due to the false information shared by people through various platforms such as social media, the number of cases will continue to rise and therefore overload the healthcare systems all over the world. The organizations have been put significant efforts into measures that can curb the spread of the pandemic. As the fighting of the virus requires collective responsibility, the public’s misinformation will interfere with the management capabilities of the authorities.
References
Bai, Y., Yao, L., Wei, T., Tian, F., Jin, D. Y., Chen, L., & Wang, M. (2020). Presumed asymptomatic carrier transmission of COVID-19. Jama, 323(14), 1406-1407.
Singhal, T. (2020). A review of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). The Indian Journal of Pediatrics, 1-6.
Zu, Z. Y., Jiang, M. D., Xu, P. P., Chen, W., Ni, Q. Q., Lu, G. M., & Zhang, L. J. (2020). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a perspective from China. Radiology, 200490.
Harapan, H., Itoh, N., Yufika, A., Winardi, W., Keam, S., Te, H., … & Mudatsir, M. (2020). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A literature review. Journal of Infection and Public Health.
Watkins, J. (2020). Preventing a COVID-19 pandemic.