Dr. Katuria spends a lot of energy and time writing social media posts about the coronavirus and working with the media. The World Health Organization has declared the coronavirus crisis a global infodemic. According to the WHO, the spread of misinformation, rumors, and conspiracy theories is preventing many countries from effectively combating the Covid-19 pandemic.
Physicians who work with coronavirus patients have found themselves on the front lines of the battle not only against COVID, but also against disinformation. Doctors from the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom and Belarus told the BBC about the threats posed by internet trolls and even patients, and how misinformation affects their work and psychological well-being.
Natasha Katuria works as an emergency room doctor in the American city of Austin, Texas. She has to deal with a variety of illnesses, but working with patients with Covid-19 is the hardest for her. Sometimes she has to call security to deal with unruly patients. They believe that Covid-19 does not exist and that doctors are simply accomplices in a global conspiracy to keep them out of work. In the U.S. and many other countries, if you have symptoms of coronavirus, you can only return to work if you have a negative Covid-19 test. Natasha carefully breaks the bad news to her patients that they or their children have tested positive for coronavirus. Many of them will have to take unpaid leave because their company does not cover sick leave. “How dare you, it’s all lies, why are you doing this to us?” – patients sometimes yell at Natasha as she tries to advise them about treatment. In addition to her day job as a doctor, Natasha feels it is her duty to inform people about the facts about the coronavirus. She writes a lot about it on social networks and gives interviews on conservative TV channels.
It has been more than a year since the coronavirus pandemic was declared a national emergency in the United States. After these performances, she receives countless messages and threats from COVID dissidents and trolls. “They write that Covid-19 doesn’t exist, that I’m part of a conspiracy theory, that I can’t be trusted because I’m a young doctor,” Natasha told the BBC. “I’m prepared for that kind of reaction, but sometimes it hurts me to the core because every day at work I see bodies literally torn apart by the virus.” Natasha is grateful to be able to continue practicing medicine under her maiden name so that online abusers cannot find her emergency room. She tries not to read messages from strangers on social networks so as not to get upset. “I feel like I am walking on a tightrope,” the doctor said. “It’s very challenging: taking care of patients, informing people, and not going crazy.”
It has been more than a year since the coronavirus pandemic was declared a national emergency in the United States. According to a Pew Research Center study published last June, 71% of Americans are familiar with the popular Internet conspiracy theory that powerful individuals deliberately planned the coronavirus epidemic. A quarter of them believed or thought there was some truth to the theory. Approximately 30% of the population in the world’s largest countries, including Russia, believe that the media are exaggerating the scope of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a survey by the Ipsos Mori marketing company.
We explain quickly, simply, and clearly what happened, why it matters, and what happens next. Episodes End of story: Podcast Advertising. A sociological study conducted by the Levada Center (an organization registered by the Russian government as a foreign agent) showed that 64% of respondents believe that the coronavirus was artificially created and is a new form of biological weapon.
The majority of doctors in Russia that the BBC spoke to said that they do not receive threats on social media. However, they have so much work at the moment that they simply do not have time to spend on the Internet. A doctor from one of the COVID hospitals in the Ural Federal District, one of the leading specialists in the region in his “preCOVID” profession, occasionally faces aggression and threats from his patients. He spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity. “I have encountered this kind of attitude at work before. It was always like that; they threatened me with violence,” a doctor told the BBC. “It’s just that now there are more psychoses and neuroses.”
The doctor believes that the aggressive behavior of COVID patients is mainly not related to the COVID disorder, but to the effect of the virus on the brain. Some patients behave aggressively because, in his opinion, they are in a state of altered consciousness; others are distressed because they have encountered financial difficulties. The majority of dissatisfied individuals believe they need other treatment. “Sometimes a sick person may have their own idea (based on past experiences related to completely different diagnoses) of “how to treat”,” the doctor explained, “and when they are treated differently in a COVID hospital, the patient says, “You are not treating me”. The best tactic for a doctor in this case, according to the BBC interviewee, is to patiently explain the treatment protocol for the new infection.
Maria (name changed for security reasons) works as a surgeon at one of the largest hospitals in Minsk. During the height of the Covid-19 epidemic in Belarus, her hospital was completely re-profiled as an infectious disease clinic. For eight months, Maria worked as a doctor in the intensive care unit, treating only Covid-19 patients.
Maria had to requalify from a surgeon to an intensivist during the Covid-19 epidemic. Maria’s patients are so seriously ill that there are no longer any COVID dissidents among them. However, many of the doctor’s acquaintances, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, denied the existence of the virus. Even when they became ill, they continued to claim that Covid-19 did not exist and refused to isolate themselves or at least wear a mask. “They could have infected someone and become someone’s executioner,” Maria believes. “They had absolutely no regard for the health of others.” On Maria’s social media pages, there are many comments under her posts claiming that the coronavirus is a hoax. The doctor directly links such a low level of awareness among the Belarusian population about Covid-19 to the state’s policy of disinformation. “I think that the statements of our president (referring to Alexander Lukashenko – BBC note) about the coronavirus infection are laughed at as a joke all over the world. He tried to treat it with a tractor, with cheese, denied its existence, said that frost would help, and then said that God would help,” Maria recalls. “But there was never any acknowledgement of the problem itself.” According to Maria, the lack of information, quarantine, and any kind of preventive measures against the virus led to an uncontrolled increase of Covid-19 patients. All hospitals and clinics were overwhelmed with coronavirus patients. Graduating medical students were sent to treat Covid patients at home. At the same time, official statistics hid the real situation. “For example, at the peak of the epidemic, during the second wave, the official statistics reported nine deaths from Covid-19 in one day across the republic,” Maria said. “But in my hospital alone, and it’s not the biggest in town, twelve people died in one day.” The surgeon associates the Belarusian government’s disinformation with attempts to save the economy rather than human lives. And it is this state policy, rather than the widespread COVID-19 dissent that it causes, that has a strong negative impact on the psychological state of Maria and her colleagues. “It’s like murder, every day we come to work and realize that the number of cases is not decreasing,” said Maria. “We’re making every effort, but it’s as if our efforts are in vain. What is the effectiveness of our work? None! And the cost is enormous – human lives.
Samantha Batt-Rouden has worked as an intensive care doctor for over ten years. She and others in the NHS are using social media to share as much as they can about how bad things are on the “front lines” of the epidemic.
Samantha has worked in UK hospitals for over ten years. For this, Samantha and her colleagues receive dozens of insults and threats, mostly from people who do not believe in the existence of Covid-19 or who think it is some kind of secret conspiracy. “It’s very difficult psychologically, especially when you are putting all your efforts into saving patients,” said Samantha from the BBC. “We work under constant stress and comments like that are very demoralizing.”
“Such comments are received by Samantha on social networks. Samanta recalls a time when her colleague called her and said he did not want to go to work. He was standing in front of the hospital where a crowd of people had gathered, shouting at the entering staff that Covid-19 did not exist. The colleague was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. To support her colleagues and herself, Samantha launched a social media campaign asking people to post blue hearts in support of NHS staff. The campaign was a huge success, trending on social media, with stars such as footballer and broadcaster Harry Lineker, famous actor Hugh Grant and journalist and actress Sue Perkins adding blue hearts to their avatars.
Many celebrities have placed a blue heart on their avatars as a sign of support for healthcare workers. “Most people support us, and we needed to know,” Samantha recalls. And he adds, “We just want to keep people out of harm’s way, so you stay home and don’t end up in the ICU with me. I really don’t want that.”