The COVID-19 Infodemic: Infodemiology Study Analyzing Stigmatizing Search Terms

Understanding the "Infodemic" Threat: A Case Study of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is notable among infectious diseases for its distinctive impact, which has halted millions of livelihoods owing to strict social distancing rules and lockdowns. Consequently, millions of individuals have turned to online sources, particularly social media, to remain informed about the virus. The transition to digital sources has resulted in an abundance of information, including both accurate and misleading or false content being shared and consumed on online platforms, contributing to what is commonly referred to as an "infodemic." Although these platforms have been valuable tools for healthcare professionals and public health authorities in disseminating crucial public health messages, they have also aided in the spread of misleading and false information. The widespread dissemination of false information has been instrumental in propagating harmful beliefs and behaviors such as vaccine hesitancy, promoting discriminatory attitudes, and endorsing false beliefs about the efficacy of certain therapeutic products for treating COVID-19. False information has undoubtedly become a challenge and burden for governments, health professionals, and the general population. This review has three main objectives: (1) to assess the scope of the "infodemic" issue, including investigating the factors contributing to the spread of false information online; (2) to examine the multifaceted consequences resulting from false information; and (3) to argue that an interdisciplinary, multi-layered approach, encompassing a focus on prevention, deterrence, and education, should be adopted to prevent the conception and dissemination of false information in this modern digital age.

Intersecting Inequities in COVID-19 Vaccination: A Discourse Analysis of Information Use and Decision-Making Among Ethnically Diverse Parents in Canada

BACKGROUND

Little is known about how intersecting social privilege and disadvantage contribute to inequities in COVID-19 information use and vaccine access. This study explored how social inequities intersect to shape access to and use of COVID-19 information and vaccines among parents in Canada.

METHODS

We conducted semi-structured interviews on COVID-19 vaccination information use with ethnically diverse parents of children ages 11 to 18 years from April to August 2022. We purposefully invited parents from respondents to a national online survey to ensure representation across diverse intersecting social identities. Five researchers coded transcripts in NVivo using a discourse analysis approach informed by intersectionality. Our analysis focused on use of vaccine information and intersecting privileges and oppressions, including identifying with equity-denied group(s).

RESULTS

Interview participants (N = 48) identified as ethnically diverse non-Indigenous (n = 40) and Indigenous (n = 8) Peoples from seven Canadian provinces. Racialized minority or Indigenous participants reflected on historical and contemporary events of racism from government and medical institutions as barriers to trust and access to COVID-19 information, vaccines, and the Canadian healthcare system. Participants with privileged social locations showed greater comfort in resisting public health measures. Despite the urgency to receive COVID-19 vaccines, information gaps and transportation barriers delayed vaccination among some participants living with chronic medical conditions.

CONCLUSION

Historicization of colonialism and ongoing events of racism are a major barrier to trusting public health information. Fostering partnerships with trusted leaders and/or healthcare workers from racialized communities may help rebuild trust. Healthcare systems need to continuously implement strategies to restore trust with Indigenous and racialized populations.

COVID-19 infodemic and health-related quality of life in patients with chronic respiratory diseases: A multicentre, observational study

Background

The explosion of information, misinformation and disinformation (the "infodemic") related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on digital and social media is reported to affect mental health and quality of life. However, reports assessing the COVID-19 infodemic on health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with chronic diseases are scarce. In this study, we investigated the associations between the infodemic and HRQL in uninfected individuals with pre-existing chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other CRDs.

Methods

We conducted a multi-national, cross-sectional, observational study in Canada, India, New Zealand and the United Kingdom where we distributed a set of digitised questionnaires among 1018 participants with chronic respiratory diseases who were not infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus at least three months prior to the study. We collected information about the infodemic such as news watching or social media use more than usual during the pandemic. HRQL was assessed using the short form of the chronic respiratory questionnaire (SF-CRQ). Demographic information, comorbidities, compliance, mental health, behavioural function, and social support were also recorded. We analysed the direct and indirect relationships between infodemic and HRQL using structural equation models (SEM).

Results

Of all participants, 54% were females and had a mean (standard deviation (SD)) age of 53 (17) years. We found that higher infodemic was associated with worse emotional function (regression coefficient β = -0.08; 95% confidence interval (CI) = -0.14 to -0.01), which means a one SD change of the higher infodemic latent variable was associated with a 0.08 SD change of emotional function level. The association between higher infodemic and worse emotional function was mediated by worse mental health and behavioural functions but is marginally ameliorated by improved social support. In stratification analysis, we found significant disease and country-wise variations in the associations between infodemic and SF-CRQ domain scores.

Conclusions

These results provide new evidence that the COVID-19 infodemic significantly influences the HRQL in patients with CRDs through a complex interplay between mental health, behavioural function, and social support. This new dimension of research also opens avenues for further research on infodemic-related health effects in other chronic diseases.

Exposing influence campaigns in the age of LLMs: a behavioral-based AI approach to detecting state-sponsored trolls

The detection of state-sponsored trolls operating in influence campaigns on social media is a critical and unsolved challenge for the research community, which has significant implications beyond the online realm. To address this challenge, we propose a new AI-based solution that identifies troll accounts solely through behavioral cues associated with their sequences of sharing activity, encompassing both their actions and the feedback they receive from others. Our approach does not incorporate any textual content shared and consists of two steps: First, we leverage an LSTM-based classifier to determine whether account sequences belong to a state-sponsored troll or an organic, legitimate user. Second, we employ the classified sequences to calculate a metric named the "Troll Score", quantifying the degree to which an account exhibits troll-like behavior. To assess the effectiveness of our method, we examine its performance in the context of the 2016 Russian interference campaign during the U.S. Presidential election. Our experiments yield compelling results, demonstrating that our approach can identify account sequences with an AUC close to 99% and accurately differentiate between Russian trolls and organic users with an AUC of 91%. Notably, our behavioral-based approach holds a significant advantage in the ever-evolving landscape, where textual and linguistic properties can be easily mimicked by Large Language Models (LLMs): In contrast to existing language-based techniques, it relies on more challenging-to-replicate behavioral cues, ensuring greater resilience in identifying influence campaigns, especially given the potential increase in the usage of LLMs for generating inauthentic content. Finally, we assessed the generalizability of our solution to various entities driving different information operations and found promising results that will guide future research.

How people interact with a chatbot against disinformation and fake news in COVID-19 in Brazil: The CoronaAI case

BACKGROUND

The search for valid information was one of the main challenges encountered during the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the development of several online alternatives.

OBJECTIVES

To describe the development of a computational solution to interact with users of different levels of digital literacy on topics related to COVID-19 and to map the correlations between user behavior and events and news that occurred throughout the pandemic.

METHOD

CoronaAI, a chatbot based on Google's Dialogflow technology, was developed at a public university in Brazil and made available on WhatsApp. The dataset with users' interactions with the chatbot comprises approximately 7,000 hits recorded throughout eleven months of CoronaAI usage.

RESULTS

CoronaAI was widely accessed by users in search of valuable and updated information on COVID-19, including checking the veracity of possible fake news about the spread of cases, deaths, symptoms, tests and protocols, among others. The mapping of users' behavior revealed that as the number of cases and deaths increased and as COVID-19 became closer, users showed a greater need for information applicable to self-care compared to following the statistical data. In addition, they showed that the constant updating of this technology may contribute to public health by enhancing general information on the pandemic and at the individual level by clarifying specific doubts about COVID-19.

CONCLUSION

Our findings reinforce the potential usefulness of chatbot technology to resolve a wide spectrum of citizens' doubts about COVID-19, acting as a cost-effective tool against the parallel pandemic of misinformation and fake news.

COVID-19 activity risk calculator as a gamified public health intervention tool

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the virus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has impacted over 200 countries leading to hospitalizations and deaths of millions of people. Public health interventions, such as risk estimators, can reduce the spread of pandemics and epidemics through influencing behavior, which impacts risk of exposure and infection. Current publicly available COVID-19 risk estimation tools have had variable effectiveness during the pandemic due to their dependency on rapidly evolving factors such as community transmission levels and variants. There has also been confusion surrounding certain personal protective strategies such as risk reduction by mask-wearing and vaccination. In order to create a simple easy-to-use tool for estimating different individual risks associated with carrying out daily-life activity, we developed COVID-19 Activity Risk Calculator (CovARC). CovARC is a gamified public health intervention as users can "play with" how different risks associated with COVID-19 can change depending on several different factors when carrying out routine daily activities. Empowering the public to make informed, data-driven decisions about safely engaging in activities may help to reduce COVID-19 levels in the community. In this study, we demonstrate a streamlined, scalable and accurate COVID-19 risk calculation system. Our study also demonstrates the quantitative impact of vaccination and mask-wearing during periods of high case counts. Validation of this impact could inform and support policy decisions regarding case thresholds for mask mandates, and other public health interventions.

Crowdsourcing Knowledge Production of COVID-19 Information on Japanese Wikipedia in the Face of Uncertainty: Empirical Analysis

BACKGROUND

A worldwide overabundance of information comprising misinformation, rumors, and propaganda concerning COVID-19 has been observed in addition to the pandemic. By addressing this data confusion, Wikipedia has become an important source of information.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate how the editors of Wikipedia have handled COVID-19-related information. Specifically, it focused on 2 questions: What were the knowledge preferences of the editors who participated in producing COVID-19-related information? and How did editors with different knowledge preferences collaborate?

METHODS

This study used a large-scale data set, including >2 million edits in the histories of 1857 editors who edited 133 articles related to COVID-19 on Japanese Wikipedia. Machine learning methods, including graph neural network methods, Bayesian inference, and Granger causality analysis, were used to establish the editors' topic proclivity and collaboration patterns.

RESULTS

Overall, 3 trends were observed. Two groups of editors were involved in the production of information on COVID-19. One group had a strong preference for sociopolitical topics (social-political group), and the other group strongly preferred scientific and medical topics (scientific-medical group). The social-political group played a central role (contributing 16,544,495/23,485,683, 70.04% of bits of content and 57,969/76,673, 75.61% of the references) in the information production part of the COVID-19 articles on Wikipedia, whereas the scientific-medical group played only a secondary role. The severity of the pandemic in Japan activated the editing behaviors of the social-political group, leading them to contribute more to COVID-19 information production on Wikipedia while simultaneously deactivating the editing behaviors of the scientific-medical group, resulting in their less contribution to COVID-19 information production on Wikipedia (Pearson correlation coefficient=0.231; P<.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study showed that lay experts (ie, Wikipedia editors) in the fields of science and medicine tended to remain silent when facing high scientific uncertainty related to the pandemic. Considering the high quality of the COVID-19-related articles on Japanese Wikipedia, this research also suggested that the sidelining of the science and medicine editors in discussions is not necessarily a problem. Instead, the social and political context of the issues with high scientific uncertainty is more important than the scientific discussions that support accuracy.

Communicating with ethnic minorities during COVID-19: An experimental test of the effect of self-, ingroup-, and intergroup-focused messages

Developing messaging to encourage minorities to adhere to health recommendations has been a complex task for governments worldwide during the COVID-19 crisis. Here, we propose and tests a new typology of messages among minorities that can be used to mobilize compliance and engagement. This typology comprises three messaging treatments emphasizing personal, ingroup, and intergroup benefits. We examine, via an experimental field study, whether there is a difference in the effect of these messages on two policy outcomes, social distancing and vaccine hesitancy, among the Arab minority living in Israel. The findings suggest that social messages, i.e., ingroup and intergroup messages, positively affect social distancing, while self-messaging harms social distancing compliance. Regarding vaccine intake, within the social messages tested, intergroup-focused messages were more effective than ingroup-focused messages for vaccination intentions only among citizens with low trust in the government. We discuss the findings in detail and propose new avenues in theory and practice to foster health policy compliance among minorities.

A Clinical Psychological View about Delusional Characterizations in Subjects with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder during the COVID-19 Period

(Background) The period experienced during the COVID-19 virus and the respective social regulations associated with it caused enormous psychosocial stress. (Objective) The objective of the present work was to observe whether the lived period induced a change in delusional characterizations in subjects with schizophrenia spectrum disorder. (Methods) A systematic literature review was conducted following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines for systematic reviews of the PRISMA GROUP. The literature search was conducted from November 2021 to May 2022, using various scientific platforms including PubMed. (Results) A total of 865 articles were found, from which 176 duplicates were removed. The remaining articles were reviewed by reading the titles and abstracts; fourteen were included. (Conclusions) During this research, it was possible to confirm the initial thesis, namely that delirium absorbs external reality by being modified by it. It was observed that the speed of absorption is estimated to be directly proportional to the speed of the modification of social reality and to the impact that the latter has on the subject's private sphere. Moreover, the situation of radical change represented a condition of abnormal psychosocial stress, which led to an increase in diagnoses of schizophrenia spectrum disorders and, specifically, a weighty increase in diagnoses of brief psychotic disorder (BDP). In the coming years, it is estimated that there will be an increase in diagnoses of schizophrenia spectrum disorder caused by both environmental and biological factors.

Barriers and facilitators of vaccine hesitancy for COVID-19, influenza, and pertussis during pregnancy and in mothers of infants under two years: An umbrella review

BACKGROUND

Vaccination during pregnancy has been repeatedly demonstrated to be safe and effective in protecting against infection and associated harms for the mother, developing baby, and subsequent infant. However, maternal vaccination uptake remains low compared to the general population.

OBJECTIVES

An umbrella review to explore the barriers and facilitators to Influenza, Pertussis and COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy and within 2 years after childbirth, and to inform interventions to encourage uptake (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42022327624).

METHODS

Ten databases were searched for systematic reviews published between 2009 and April 2022 exploring the predictors of vaccination or effectiveness of interventions to improve vaccination for Pertussis, Influenza, or COVD-19. Both pregnant women and mothers of infants under two years were included. Barriers and facilitators were organised using the WHO model of determinants of vaccine hesitancy through narrative synthesis, the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist assessed review quality, and the degree of overlap of primary studies was calculated.

RESULTS

19 reviews were included. Considerable overlap was found especially for intervention reviews, and the quality of the included reviews and their primary studies varied. Sociodemographic factors were specifically researched in the context of COVID-19, exerting a small but consistent effect on vaccination. Concerns around the safety of vaccination particularly for the developing baby were a main barrier. While key facilitators included recommendation from a healthcare professional, previous vaccination, knowledge around vaccination, and communication with and support from social groups. Intervention reviews indicated multi-component interventions involving human interaction to be most effective.

CONCLUSION

The main barriers and facilitators for Influenza, Pertussis and COVID-19 vaccination have been identified and constitute the foundation for policy development at the international level. Ethnicity, socioeconomic status, concerns about vaccine safety and side effects, and lack of healthcare professionals' recommendations, are the most relevant factors of vaccine hesitancy. Adapting educational interventions to specific populations, person-to-person interaction, healthcare professionals' involvement, and interpersonal support are important strategies to improve uptake.

Human Mobility Restrictions and COVID-19 Infection Rates: Analysis of Mobility Data and Coronavirus Spread in Poland and Portugal

This study examines the possibility of correlation between the data on human mobility restrictions and the COVID-19 infection rates in two European countries: Poland and Portugal. The aim of this study is to verify the correlation and causation between mobility changes and the infection spread as well as to investigate the impact of the introduced restrictions on changes in human mobility. The data were obtained from Google Community Mobility Reports, Apple Mobility Trends Reports, and The Humanitarian Data Exchange along with other reports published online. All the data were organized in one dataset, and three groups of variables were distinguished: restrictions, mobility, and intensity of the disease. The causal-comparative research design method is used for this study. The results show that in both countries the state restrictions reduced human mobility, with the strongest impact in places related to retail and recreation, grocery, pharmacy, and transit stations. At the same time, the data show that the increase in restrictions had strong positive correlation with stays in residential places both in Poland and Portugal.

Risk communication in an informal settlement during COVID-19: case of Dinaweng, Bloemfontein South Africa

This article interrogates the nuances of risk communication in a poor neighbourhood of South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that risk communication had multifaceted implications for managing and governing the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic has coincided with the information age, where multiple communication channels affect the success of risk communication through miscommunication, false news, or distortion. Using a qualitative study premised on a phenomenological research design, data were collected from 60 purposively sampled residents in Bloemfontein to capture their perspectives regarding risk communication on COVID-19. This data was triangulated with secondary sources to enhance the validity of the findings. Among the secondary data sources are reviews of news media outlets reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic at the international and the local level. The study's findings reveal that the poor residing in informal settlements are marginalised in risk communication. This is mainly a result of the digital divide that has resulted in challenges for the poor communities in accessing specific news channels, while also making it difficult for them to validate some information.

The Impacts of Social Media Use and Online Racial Discrimination on Asian American Mental Health: Cross-sectional Survey in the United States During COVID-19

Background

During the COVID-19 pandemic, increased social media usage has led to worsened mental health outcomes for many people. Moreover, due to the sociopolitical climate during the pandemic, the prevalence of online racial discrimination has contributed to worsening psychological well-being. With increases in anti-Asian hate, Asian and Asian American social media users may experience the negative effects of online racial discrimination in addition to the reduced psychological well-being resulting from exposure to online COVID-19 content.

Objective

This study aims to investigate the impact of COVID-19–related social media use and exposure to online racial discrimination during the pandemic on the mental health outcomes (ie, anxiety, depression, and secondary traumatic stress [STS]) of Asian Americans compared with those of non-Asian Americans. In addition, this study explores the mediating role of negative affect and the moderating role of racial/ethnic identification.

Methods

An online survey was conducted through Amazon Mechanical Turk and a university-wide research portal from March 3 to March 15, 2021. A total of 1147 participants took the survey. Participants’ social media usage related to COVID-19 and exposure to 2 online forms of racial discrimination (individual and vicarious), mental health outcomes (anxiety, depression, and STS), racial/ethnic identification, negative affect, and demographics were assessed.

Results

Our results showed that COVID-19–related social media use, individual discrimination, and vicarious discrimination were predictors of negative mental health outcomes (anxiety, depression, and STS). Asian Americans reported higher vicarious discrimination than Latinx and White Americans, but Asian Americans’ mental health outcomes did not differ substantially from those of the other racial/ethnic groups. Racial/ethnic identification moderated the relationship between both types of discrimination and STS, and negative affect served as a mediator between both types of discrimination and all 3 mental health outcomes.

Conclusions

These results suggest that social media exposure continues to have a dire effect on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study helps to contextualize the rise of anti-Asian American hate and its impact on mental health outcomes in the United States.

The COVID-19 infodemic in Brazil: trends in Google search data

Background

Since the beginning of the new coronavirus pandemic, there has been much information about the disease and the virus has been in the spotlight, shared and commented upon on the Internet. However, much of this information is infodemics and can interfere with the advancement of the disease and that way that populations act. Thus, Brazil is a country that requires attention, as despite the fact that in almost two years of pandemic it has shown a devastating numbers of deaths and number of cases, and generates false, distorted and malicious news about the pandemic. This work intends to understand the attitudes of the Brazilian population using infodemic queries from the Google Trends search tool and social and income variables.

Methods

Data from infodemic research carried out on Google Trends, between January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021, with socioeconomic data, such as income and education, were unified in a single database: standardization and exploratory and multivalued techniques based on grouping were used in the study.

Results

In the analysis of the search trend of infodemic terms, it is clear that the categories of Prevention and Beliefs should stand out in Brazil, where there is a diverse culture. It is followed by the COVID-19 Treatment category, with treatments that were not those recommended by the authorities. Income transfer programs and information on socioeconomic variables did not have much impact on infodemic surveys, but it was observed that states where President Bolsonaro has more supporters had researched more infodemic information.

Conclusions

In a country as geographically large as Brazil, it is important that political authorities go to great lengths to disseminate reliable information and monitor the infodemic in the media and on the internet. It was concluded that the denial of the pandemic and the influence of political leaders influenced the search for infodemic information, contributing to a disorganization in the control of the disease and prevention measures.

COVID-19 preparedness and social dynamics in a Sub-Saharan Africa country, Benin

This project aims to assess and analyse the perception and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Benin. The applied research methodology was interdisciplinary and combined field studies that used ethnographic and social research methods with coding and data analysis, leading to theoretical dilemmas, which were analysed from the viewpoint of bioethical reflection. Furthermore, biomedical engineering approaches were used to assess the preparedness to COVID-19. Despite the preparedness to COVID-19 due to the promoted governmental measures, a peculiar management of the pandemic emerged. The latter, although noteworthy, did not overcome the typical challenges of medical locations in low-resource settings. This, together with the controversial spread of information and local beliefs, caused significant economic and social consequences, exceeding the benefits related to the containment of the virus. This research highlights how the emotion of fear, in this specific situation, was herald of dramatic consequences, rather than having a heuristic and empowering effect.

Types of Racism and Twitter Users' Responses Amid the COVID-19 Outbreak: Content Analysis

BACKGROUND

When the first COVID-19 cases were noticed in China, many racist comments against Chinese individuals spread. As there is a huge need to better comprehend why all of these targeted comments and opinions developed specifically at the start of the outbreak, we sought to carefully examine racism and advocacy efforts on Twitter in the first quarter of 2020 (January 15 to March 3, 2020).

OBJECTIVE

The first research question aimed to understand the main type of racism displayed on Twitter during the first quarter of 2020. The second research question focused on evaluating Twitter users' positive and negative responses regarding racism toward Chinese individuals.

METHODS

Content analysis of tweets was utilized to address the two research questions. Using the NCapture browser link and NVivo software, tweets in English and Spanish were pulled from the Twitter data stream from January 15 to March 3, 2020. A total of 19,150 tweets were captured using the advanced Twitter search engine with the keywords and hashtags #nosoyunvirus, #imNotAVirus, #ChineseDon'tComeToJapan, #racism, "No soy un virus," and "Racismo Coronavirus." After cleaning the data, a total of 402 tweets were codified and analyzed.

RESULTS

The data confirmed clear sentiments of racism against Chinese individuals during the first quarter of 2020. The tweets displayed individual, cultural, and institutional racism. Individual racism was the most commonly reported form of racism, specifically displaying physical and verbal aggression. As a form of resistance, Twitter users created spaces for advocacy and activism. The hashtag "I am not a virus" helped to break stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination on Twitter.

CONCLUSIONS

Advocacy efforts were enormous both inside and outside the Chinese community; an allyship sentiment was fostered by some white users, and an identification with the oppression experienced by the Chinese population was expressed in the Black and Muslim worldwide communities. Activism through social media manifested through art, food sharing, and community support.

An Analysis of the Deleterious Impact of the Infodemic during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil: A Case Study Considering Possible Correlations with Socioeconomic Aspects of Brazilian Demography

Due to COVID-19, a huge amount of incorrect information has been disseminated on the internet, which may interfere with the disease’s advance. This study analyzes the behavior of the Brazilian population during the pandemic, employing queries of infodemic data searched on Google Trends and relating them to socioeconomic and political indicators in the country. The z-score technique was used to standardize the data; and for multivalued analysis, dendrograms and the Elbow method detected similar patterns among Brazilian states. The result was divided into three analyses. In the analysis of the research trend of infodemic terms, the themes “Prevention and Beliefs” and “Treatment” prevailed. In the exploratory analysis, socioeconomic indicators related to income and education, as well as government programs, showed no impact on infodemic searches; but the results suggest that the states that supported the Brazilian president in the 2018 election, where he obtained more than 50% of the votes, were the states that most searched for infodemic terms: a total of 46.58% more infodemic searches than in the other states. In the multivalued analysis, the socioeconomic indicators used showed similarities in the patterns, highlighting a cluster containing 77% of all Brazilian states. The study concludes that denial about the pandemic and the influence of political leadership can influence infodemic information searches, contributing to a disorganization in the control of disease control and prevention measures.

Online searching trend on Covid-19 using Google trend: infodemiological study in Malaysia

Since January 2020, the emergence of Covid-19 has sparked a worldwide search for information about Covid-19. People frequently use the internet to search the information on the virus. However, the pandemic have triggered the information-seeking trends among public. As a result, large amount of information could lead to infodemic. It will create public concerned such as panic and paranoid because this information spread rapidly. The aim of this study is to analyze information about Covid-19 that has been searched in Malaysia. We investigated online search behavior related to the Covid-19 outbreak among public by using Google Trends to understand public searching behavior on Covid-19. The findings from this study can be used as a tool to monitor public searching activities on Covid-19, which could predict future action regarding the outbreak.

A new infodemiological approach through Google Trends: longitudinal analysis of COVID-19 scientific and infodemic names in Italy

The scientific community has classified COVID-19 as the worst pandemic in human history. The damage caused by the new disease was direct (e.g., deaths) and indirect (e.g., closure of economic activities). Within the latter category, we find infodemic phenomena such as the adoption of generic and stigmatizing names used to identify COVID-19 and the related novel coronavirus 2019 variants. These monikers have fostered the spread of health disinformation and misinformation and fomented racism and segregation towards the Chinese population. In this regard, we present a comprehensive infodemiological picture of Italy from the epidemic outbreak in December 2019 until September 2021. In particular, we propose a new procedure to examine in detail the web interest of users in scientific and infodemic monikers linked to the identification of COVID-19. To do this, we exploited the online tool Google Trends. Our findings reveal the widespread use of multiple COVID-19-related names not considered in the previous literature, as well as a persistent trend in the adoption of stigmatizing and generic terms. Inappropriate names for cataloging novel coronavirus 2019 variants of concern have even been adopted by national health agencies. Furthermore, we also showed that early denominations influenced user behavior for a long time and were difficult to replace. For these reasons, we suggest that the assignments of scientific names to new diseases are more timely and advise against mass media and international health authorities using terms linked to the geographical origin of the novel coronavirus 2019 variants.

Influence of Mass Media on Italian Web Users During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Infodemiological Analysis

BACKGROUND

Concurrently with the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has been facing a growing infodemic, which has caused severe damage to economic and health systems and has often compromised the effectiveness of infection containment regulations. Although this infodemic has spread mainly through social media, there are numerous occasions on which mass media outlets have shared dangerous information, giving resonance to statements without a scientific basis. For these reasons, infoveillance and infodemiology methods are increasingly exploited to monitor information traffic on the web and make epidemiological predictions.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of Italian mass media on users' web searches to understand the role of press and television channels in both the infodemic and the interest of Italian netizens in COVID-19.

METHODS

We collected the headlines published from January 2020 to March 2021 containing specific COVID-19-related keywords published on PubMed, Google, the Italian Ministry of Health website, and the most-read newspapers in Italy. We evaluated the percentages of infodemic terms on these platforms. Through Google Trends, we searched for cross-correlations between newspaper headlines and COVID-19-related web searches. Finally, we analyzed the web interest in infodemic content posted on YouTube.

RESULTS

During the first wave of COVID-19, the Italian press preferred to draw on infodemic terms (rate of adoption: 1.6%-6.3%) and moderately infodemic terms (rate of adoption: 88%-94%), while scientific sources favored the correct names (rate of adoption: 65%-88%). The correlational analysis showed that the press heavily influenced users in adopting terms to identify the novel coronavirus (cross-correlations of ≥0.74 to ≤0.89, P value <.001; maximum lag=1 day). The use of scientific denominations by the press reached acceptable values only during the third wave (approximately 80%, except for the television services Rai and Mediaset). Web queries about COVID-19 symptoms also appeared to be influenced by the press (best average correlation=0.92, P<.007). Furthermore, web users showed pronounced interest in YouTube videos of an infodemic nature. Finally, the press gave resonance to serious "fake news" on COVID-19, which caused pronounced spikes of interest from web users.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that the Italian mass media have played a decisive role in spreading the COVID-19 infodemic and addressing netizens' web interest, thus favoring the adoption of terms that are unsuitable for identifying COVID-19. Therefore, the directors of news channels and newspapers should be more cautious, and government dissemination agencies should exert more control over such news stories.

Influence of Mass Media on Italian Web Users During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Infodemiological Analysis

BACKGROUND

Concurrently with the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has been facing a growing infodemic, which has caused severe damage to economic and health systems and has often compromised the effectiveness of infection containment regulations. Although this infodemic has spread mainly through social media, there are numerous occasions on which mass media outlets have shared dangerous information, giving resonance to statements without a scientific basis. For these reasons, infoveillance and infodemiology methods are increasingly exploited to monitor information traffic on the web and make epidemiological predictions.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of Italian mass media on users' web searches to understand the role of press and television channels in both the infodemic and the interest of Italian netizens in COVID-19.

METHODS

We collected the headlines published from January 2020 to March 2021 containing specific COVID-19-related keywords published on PubMed, Google, the Italian Ministry of Health website, and the most-read newspapers in Italy. We evaluated the percentages of infodemic terms on these platforms. Through Google Trends, we searched for cross-correlations between newspaper headlines and COVID-19-related web searches. Finally, we analyzed the web interest in infodemic content posted on YouTube.

RESULTS

During the first wave of COVID-19, the Italian press preferred to draw on infodemic terms (rate of adoption: 1.6%-6.3%) and moderately infodemic terms (rate of adoption: 88%-94%), while scientific sources favored the correct names (rate of adoption: 65%-88%). The correlational analysis showed that the press heavily influenced users in adopting terms to identify the novel coronavirus (cross-correlations of ≥0.74 to ≤0.89, P value <.001; maximum lag=1 day). The use of scientific denominations by the press reached acceptable values only during the third wave (approximately 80%, except for the television services Rai and Mediaset). Web queries about COVID-19 symptoms also appeared to be influenced by the press (best average correlation=0.92, P<.007). Furthermore, web users showed pronounced interest in YouTube videos of an infodemic nature. Finally, the press gave resonance to serious "fake news" on COVID-19, which caused pronounced spikes of interest from web users.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that the Italian mass media have played a decisive role in spreading the COVID-19 infodemic and addressing netizens' web interest, thus favoring the adoption of terms that are unsuitable for identifying COVID-19. Therefore, the directors of news channels and newspapers should be more cautious, and government dissemination agencies should exert more control over such news stories.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Conspiracy Hypotheses and Risk Perception in Italy: Infodemiological Survey Study Using Google Trends

Background

COVID-19 has caused the worst international crisis since World War II. Italy was one of the countries most affected by both the pandemic and the related infodemic. The success of anti–COVID-19 strategies and future public health policies in Italy cannot separate itself from the containment of fake news and the divulgation of correct information.

Objective

The aim of this paper was to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on web interest in conspiracy hypotheses and risk perception of Italian web users.

Methods

Google Trends was used to monitor users’ web interest in specific topics, such as conspiracy hypotheses, vaccine side effects, and pollution and climate change. The keywords adopted to represent these topics were mined from Bufale.net—an Italian website specializing in detecting online hoaxes—and Google Trends suggestions (ie, related topics and related queries). Relative search volumes (RSVs) of the time-lapse periods of 2016-2020 (pre–COVID-19) and 2020-2021 (post–COVID-19) were compared through percentage difference (∆_%) and the Welch t test (t). When data series were not stationary, other ad hoc criteria were used. The trend slopes were assessed through Sen slope (SS). The significance thresholds have been indicatively set at P=.05 and t=1.9.

Results

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically increased Italian netizens’ interest in conspiracies (∆_% ∈ [60, 288], t ∈ [6, 12]). Web interest in conspiracy-related queries across Italian regions increased and became more homogeneous compared to the pre–COVID-19 period (average RSV=80±2.8, t_min=1.8, ∆_min%=+12.4, min∆_SD%=–25.8). In addition, a growing trend in web interest in the infodemic YouTube channel ByoBlu has been highlighted. Web interest in hoaxes has increased more than interest in antihoax services (t₁=11.3 vs t₂=4.5; Δ_1%=+157.6 vs Δ_2%=+84.7). Equivalently, web interest in vaccine side effects exceeded interest in pollution and climate change (SS_vaccines=0.22, P<.001 vs SS_pollution=0.05, P<.001; ∆_%=+296.4). To date, a significant amount of fake news related to COVID-19 vaccines, unproven remedies, and origin has continued to circulate. In particular, the creation of SARS-CoV-2 in a Chinese laboratory constituted about 0.04% of the entire web interest in the pandemic.

Conclusions

COVID-19 has given a significant boost to web interest in conspiracy hypotheses and has made it more uniform across regions in Italy. The pandemic accelerated an already-growing trend in users’ interest toward some fake news sources, including the 500,000-subscriber YouTube channel ByoBlu, which was removed from the platform by YouTube for disinformation in March 2021. The risk perception related to COVID-19 vaccines has been so distorted that vaccine side effect–related queries outweighed those relating to pollution and climate change, which are much more urgent issues. Moreover, a large amount of fake news has circulated about COVID-19 vaccines, remedies, and origin. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the Italian authorities implement more effective infoveillance systems, and that communication by the mass media be less sensationalistic and more consistent with the available scientific evidence. In this context, Google Trends can be used to monitor users’ response to specific infodemiological countermeasures. Further research is needed to understand the psychological mechanisms that regulate risk perception.

COVID-19 pandemic in the Middle East countries: coronavirus-seeking behavior versus coronavirus-related publications

The spread of COVID-19 has created a fundamental need for coordinated mechanisms responding to outbreaks in different sectors. One of the main sectors relates to information supply and demand in the middle of this pandemic in the digital environment. It could be called an infodemiology. It is known as a promising approach to solving the challenge in the present age. At this level, the purpose of this article is to investigate the COVID-19 related search process by field research. Data were retrieved from Google Trends in Middle Eastern countries alongside scientific research output of Middle Eastern scientists towards COVID-19 in Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed. Daily COVID-19 cases and deaths were retrieved from the World Health Organization. We searched for descriptive statistical analyses to detect coronavirus-seeking behavior versus coronavirus releases in the Middle East in 2020. Findings show that people in the Middle East use various keyword solutions to search for COVID-19 in Google. There is a significant correlation between coronavirus confirmed cases and scientific productivity (January 2020-December 2020). Also, there is a positive association between the number of deaths and the number of scientific publications (except Jordan). It was a positive and significant association between online coronavirus-seeking behavior on Google (RSVs) and the confirmed cases (except Syria and Yemen). Furthermore, it was a positive relationship between RSVs and scientific productivity in the Middle East (except Bahrain and Qatar). From an infodemiological viewpoint, there is a significant correlation between coronavirus information demand and its information provision.

Stigmatization of Chinese and Asian-looking people during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany

BACKGROUND

The outbreak and global spread of COVID-19 was accompanied by an increase in reports of stigmatization of Chinese and Asian-looking people. The behavioral immune system provides a framework for stigmatization in response to infectious disease threats. Specifically, stigmatization might increase with rising levels of infectious disease threat. The present study aimed to examine this hypothesis during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

As part of the "EUCLID" project ( https://euclid.dbvis.de ), a total of 5011 persons from Germany were surveyed via an online-questionnaire between February 2^nd and April 3^rd, 2020, covering the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic over three time periods which were defined by critical events.

RESULTS

There was no evidence for an increase in the stigmatization of Chinese and Asian-looking people across three topics, that is personal proximity, air travel, and medical measures upon arrival from China.

CONCLUSIONS

The present findings provide good news in that participants showed an adaptive response to the infectious disease threat rather than displaying increased stigmatization. Further research is necessary to specify the conditions that increase the risk of stigmatization in response to infectious disease threats.

COVID-19 as an "Infodemic" in Public Health: Critical Role of the Social Media

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has emerged as a significant and global public health crisis. Besides the rising number of cases and fatalities, the outbreak has also affected economies, employment and policies alike. As billions are being isolated at their homes to contain the infection, the uncertainty gives rise to mass hysteria and panic. Amidst this, there has been a hidden epidemic of "information" that makes COVID-19 stand out as a "digital infodemic" from the earlier outbreaks. Repeated and detailed content about the virus, geographical statistics, and multiple sources of information can all lead to chronic stress and confusion at times of crisis. Added to this is the plethora of misinformation, rumor and conspiracy theories circulating every day. With increased digitalization, media penetration has increased with a more significant number of people aiding in the "information pollution." In this article, we glance at the unique evolution of COVID-19 as an "infodemic" in the hands of social media and the impact it had on its spread and public reaction. We then look at the ways forward in which the role of social media (as well as other digital platforms) can be integrated into social and public health, for a better symbiosis, "digital balance" and pandemic preparedness for the ongoing crisis and the future.

Online Search Behavior Related to COVID-19 Vaccines: Infodemiology Study

BACKGROUND

Vaccination against COVID-19 is an important public health strategy to address the ongoing pandemic. Examination of online search behavior related to COVID-19 vaccines can provide insights into the public's awareness, concerns, and interest regarding COVID-19 vaccination.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to describe online search behavior related to COVID-19 vaccines during the start of public vaccination efforts in the United States.

METHODS

We examined Google Trends data from January 1, 2021, through March 16, 2021, to determine the relative search volume for vaccine-related searches on the internet. We also examined search query log data for COVID-19 vaccine-related searches and identified 5 categories of searches: (1) general or other information, (2) vaccine availability, (3) vaccine manufacturer, (4) vaccine side-effects and safety, and (5) vaccine myths and conspiracy beliefs. In this paper, we report on the proportion and trends for these different categories of vaccine-related searches.

RESULTS

In the first quarter of 2021, the proportion of all web-based search queries related to COVID-19 vaccines increased from approximately 10% to nearly 50% of all COVID-19-related queries (P<.001). A majority of COVID-19 vaccine queries addressed vaccine availability, and there was a particularly notable increase in the proportion of queries that included the name of a specific pharmacy (from 6% to 27%; P=.01). Queries related to vaccine safety and side-effects (<5% of total queries) or specific vaccine-related myths (<1% of total queries) were uncommon, and the relative frequency of both types of searches decreased during the study period.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates an increase in online search behavior related to COVID-19 vaccination in early 2021 along with an increase in the proportion of searches related to vaccine availability at pharmacies. These findings are consistent with an increase in public interest and intention to get vaccinated during the initial phase of public COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

A Phenomenological Study on the Positive and Negative Experiences of Chinese International University Students From Hong Kong Studying in the U.K. and U.S. in the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused distress in students globally. The mental health of international students studying abroad has been neglected during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially Chinese students who have been unfairly targeted. Objective: To explore and document the positive and negative experiences of a group of Hong Kong Chinese international students studying in the U.K. and U.S. from an insider perspective in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The qualitative study used four 1.5-h online focus group interviews of 20 Chinese international students from Hong Kong aged 18 or older studying in universities in the United Kingdom or the United States, from 3 May to 12 May 2020. A framework approach with a semi-structured interview guide was used to reflect students' stressors, cognitive appraisals, coping, and outcomes (negative impacts and positive gains), in the early stages of COVID-19. Different strategies were used to ensure the credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability of the study. Transcripts were analyzed using qualitative thematic content analysis. Results: Twenty full-time international University students (60% female, 90% aged 18-25 years and 65% undergraduates) were recruited. Students reported (i) stress from personal (e.g., worries about health and academic attainment), interpersonal (e.g., perceived prejudice and lack of social support), and environmental factors (e.g., uncertainties about academic programme and unclear COVID-19-related information); (ii) significant differences in culture and cognitive appraisal in the levels of perceived susceptibility and severity; (iii) positive thinking and using alternative measures in meeting challenges, which included effective emotion and problem coping strategies, and the importance of support from family, friends and schools; and (iv) negative psychological impact (e.g., worries and stress) and positive personal growth in crisis management and gains in family relationships. Conclusions: With the rise in sinophobia and uncertain developments of the pandemic, proactive support from government and academic institutions are urgently needed to reduce stress and promote the well-being of international students, especially Chinese students in the U.K. and U.S. Clear information, public education and policies related to the pandemic, appropriate academic arrangements from universities and strong support systems play important roles in maintaining students' psychological health. Clinical Trial Registration: The study was registered with the National Institutes of Health (https://clinicaltrials.gov/, identifier: NCT04365361).