Writing a book on facts amid the Coronavirus pandemic has fortified my resilience to complete the project. When I started the project in 2018, much of my focus was science communication and politics. It is easy to understand why these were reasonable starting points. Falsehoods and outright bald-faced lies were commonplace at nearly every Trump rally, and, when science communicators attempted to correct misinformation, they were met with a great deal of scepticism-in the United States and elsewhere around the world. It was only natural to write a book on the value of facts.
A lot has changed in the last three or four weeks. In the wake of the Coronavirus, media, bloggers, pundits, lobbyists, corporations, and darn near anyone who has a voice has either said or published something false or passed on information to others that turned out to include blatant falsehoods. So much misinformation has been circulating on the Internet among Facebook friends and other social media outlets that it is difficult to organise the correct information and to dismiss the misinformation. Even I have found myself befuddled by news stories, blogs, reddit chains, etc.
Thanks to a friend who is a medical doctor in Australia, he set me, and perhaps other friends in our Facebook Messenger group, straight. I appreciated his guidance, so, given that we're all suffering from misinformation, I'd like to pass along information that is correct and accurate. It is accurate because experts wrote it, it is correct because others have verified it by reviewing it.
Two of the most important sources are:
The information may not decrease your anxiety, but it will provide you with a clearer picture of what the facts are and how you may critically evaluate the information available on the internet. If there are more sources that ought to be added to the list, please email me. If I find reputable websites, I will add them to the list.
I am not a medical practitioner or researchers, but the information on the websites provided have been sourced from professional medical practitioners and researchers. For professional medical advice, I urge the reader to contact their general practitioner / physician. If this is an emergency, the person should stop reading this blog and contact local authorities immediately.