(CNN) – I weighed to evidence from infectious disease experts which suggests just the opposite, the 30% of Americans who participated in a new survey from the Pew Research Center he claimed to believe that the coronavirus it was probably created inside a laboratory.
The recent survey of the Thought Center shows that the disinformation about the virus continues to reign, even as data verifiers and public health officials work hard to dispel misinformation and save lives in U.S.
23% of surveyed adults said they believe the virus was intentionally manufactured. This, almost certainly, is not true, according to genetic detectives who have studied the origins of the virus.
And 43% – a high number, but not an overwhelming majority – noted that the virus likely arose naturally. This is possibly the closest thing to the truth about the coronavirus, according to experts.
The survey was conducted between March 11-16. During that period, the World Health Organization declared the covid-19 pandemic, but most states still they had not issued confinement orders.
Its origin is in dispute, but it was not manufactured in a laboratory
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the covid-19 pandemic, but virus experts agree on something about its origin: probably It was generated in a bat, not in a Chinese laboratory.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that mainly affect animals. Some of them, like covid-19 and SARS (which was earlier), “jump over the species barrier” and end up making humans sick too.
That seems to be what happened with the covid-19. In early February, researchers from China wrote an article in the magazine Nature – first-rate scientific publication – which concluded that “2019-nCoV is 96% of the entire genome identical to a bat coronavirus.”
Now, the belief – at some point widespread – that the virus originated in a Chinese market is also being discussed: while some virus experts told CNN earlier this month that the hygienic conditions of that market made it the first ground for “zoonotic spread”, a published article in The Lancet magazine shows that a third of the first 41 covid-19 patients had no market contact, including the first confirmed patient.
The theory that the virus was created in a laboratory was repeatedly shared on the One America News Network, a far-right channel favored by President Donald Trump. The White House has allowed Chanel Rion, a journalist for One America News, to attend briefings, which goes against of the press corps protocol on allowing organizations to news small rotate in and out of informational meetings to observe social distancing. (Rion led an investigation that claimed the virus was created in a laboratory in North Carolina a few years ago).
While at least one virus expert did not rule out the idea that covid-19 was created in a laboratory, CNN was unable to independently verify those claims, and Chinese and Western scientists have repeatedly denied it.
A disinformation pandemic
Previous pandemics did not develop in an era when information travels faster than a virus.
The covid-19 pandemic has led to what the World Health Organization called a “infodemic“Inaccurate information about the virus, its origin, and how it spreads is flooding social media, and unsophisticated algorithms have brought those theories to public awareness.
Take for example the conspiracy that 5G networks are somehow linked to the coronavirus. It started as a marginal theory among New Agers and QAnon fans. Soon, she ended up on celebrity Instagram accounts, and Twitter posted at least two “moments” debunking her.
Twitter and other social networks are tightening their policies as a consequence. WhatsApp, Facebook’s proprietary messaging service, limited the number of times a message can be forwarded to a user in an effort to prevent conspiracies from reaching multiple groups at once. Social media services now display messages at the top of search pages warning users of misinformation.
It remains to be seen whether this will be enough to change people’s beliefs and potentially save lives.
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