COVID-19 has brought the best and worst out of us. Unfortunately, the worst prevails

Updated: Jun 29, 2020

This article is a personal reflection on how the novel coronavirus has affected societal values and has exposed several faces of our modern way of life.

COVID-19 has undoubtedly left its mark in the pages of history and punched us in the gut, kicked us while we’re on the ground and it’s just about to spit on us while we’re in pain… What I’m trying to say is that it’s been rough.

Hyperbole aside, lockdowns have not been easy and to say it has disrupted our normal life may be an understatement.

Because it’s been difficult on some, we’ve seen many stories of selflessness and heroism: In the UK, army veteran Tom Moore (100 years young) raised £4m pounds for the NHS by doing 100 laps in his garden; Formula 1 engineers are developing devices for patients in ICUs (Intensive Care Units) and countless volunteers are helping deliver food and other items to high-risk citizens.

It’s important to point out stories like these because aside from providing a break from the stories reporting rises in cases and deaths, it’s also a good indicator that there’s a strong sense of community.

However, the same way we’ve seen these uplifting stories, the coronavirus has also exposed a dark side that overweighs the uplifting stories.

This pandemic is being treated as war. Like Michael Spence (professor of Economics) and David W. Brady (professor of political science) argue, “The situation demands a rapid, cooperative response from governments and other institutions” but we are faced with a conundrum: “Either “we are all in this together” or “we are each on our own” – but some of us don't seem to be 'in it together'.

5G conspiracies

One of the most elaborate, yet laziest COVID-19 conspiracies out there (that I’ve seen anyway) is the 5G conspiracies that are spreading like wildfire.

A quick rundown: After having done my “research” (like many of these conspiracy theorists call surfing the Facebook, sup-par websites and YouTube videos; while simultaneously ignoring any reliable source out there because they’re part of the “deep state”), the most popular version of this conspiracy is that new Chinese-made 5G networks emit radiation that either weakens the immune system or transmit the novel coronavirus directly.

Just to be clear, 5G does NOT cause COVID-19, it does NOT transmit it and there is NO research to suggest 5G weakens the immune system, judging by previous studies looking at 4G and lower.

While baseless, this conspiracy is dangerous. Openreach (a UK telecom company) reported almost 50 incidents of people abusing their workers in April.

The Guardian, a UK newspaper, reports “Engineers at the infrastructure company, which does not work directly on the 5G network, have been assaulted, spat on, and forced to flee groups of angry people because of baseless fears that the new mobile phone standard poses a risk to health and is linked to the coronavirus”.

Furthermore, people have burned towers that in most cases did not emit 5G and were instead crucial to emergency services.

The conspiracy, like many, spread on social media and has been shared by some online celebrities despite it being very easily debunkable. Very quickly, countries that don’t have 5G networks also have the novel coronavirus.

I’m not going to extensively debunk it as it is not the point of the article. There are several publishers that have debunked it in written and video form so I encourage you to look at them if you are interested.

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Anti-vaxxers

Physicians generally think that a vaccine is what will bring a true end to the pandemic, however, there are those who don’t see it that way.

Anti-vaccine misinformation has spread absurdly fast lately. Though not new, it thrives on social media and even enjoys some celebrity endorsements; and some have links to 5G conspiracy groups.

Antivaxx fearmongering have led to measles outbreaks in several European regions, including Romania, Ireland and the UK, as well as around the world, including the US.

This group, already casting doubt about any future treatment created by who they see as the villains of this pandemic, could have very serious and deadly consequences.

Populism

Political leaders have used this pandemic to thrive. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has assaulted the structure Hungary’s institutions to a point where NGO Freedom House's, no longer considers it a democracy.

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has consistently attacked medical professionals who have gone against his view on the pandemic (A leading medical journal has described President Jair Bolsonaro as "perhaps the biggest threat" to Brazil's ability to successfully fight the coronavirus pandemic, Aljazeera reports).

“Populist leaders in power around the world thrive on undermining professionals, experts, and others associated with “the establishment.” – says Hugo Drochon, Assistant Professor of Political Theory at the University of Nottingham and author of Nietzsche’s Great Politics in an article for Project Syndicate; and this is what we are seeing now.

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I would like to reiterate that there have been people/groups of people whose gallantry must be noted. However, this pandemic has shed yet another light on the severe dysfunction in our society and around the globe.

It’s important to point out that many of the conspiracy theories about COVID-19 or that link to the disease, have some link to George Soros and Bill Gates and, as Hugo Drochon writes, they tend to be appealing to the those in the far right.

This misinformation is generally used to gain some advantage, whether being because those who propose it, believe in that idea or for populist political gain amongst groups that have large distrust in government figures.

I have purposely avoided mentioning US President Donald Trump and the number of times that he has publicly contradicted his own scientific advisor Dr Anthony Fauci (and others) because they are a widely used example. However, we are now seeing populist officials (whether purposely or not) engage in blame battles or misinformation to shift this blame for any failings.

Another example of this is the Chinese narrative that the virus might have been brought to Wuhan by the US Army. In the UK, Piers Corbyn, the brother of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, has been arrested while protesting against the lockdown, claiming the stay-at-home order is a "pack of lies to brainwash you and keep you in order".

Pro-Kremlin accounts online also spread false information about the outbreak, claiming that, among other false information designed to diminish trust in public healthcare institutions, the “false panic” about Covid-19 would benefit pharmaceutical companies looking to profit from the virus.

The fight against misinformation is incredibly important as the actions our leaders and influential people take now could either devastate economies and lives or could take us out of this crisis ‘as smooth as it can be’.

It is also our shared responsibility to recognise conspiracy theories and misinformation and question the logic of this information.

While the general consensus seems to be to follow the advice that these health institutions issue (here’s US research), like Michael Spence and David W. Brady argue in their article:

“Insofar as there is a broad-based recognition among citizens and political/business leaders that today’s losses are large enough that they should be shared or socialized, there is a small chance to start reversing the downward spiral of distrust. Either “we are all in this together” or “we are each on our own.”

“During periods of relative prosperity and stability, it is too easy to forget the former and amplify the latter (especially when we are armed with a growing selection of digital communication tools)”.

Polarisation has been increasingly present in the current political climate, but now we need to make a U-turn. While we have seen many good deeds, to beat this pandemic, public officials will have to win the public trust, not by spreading convenient misinformation, but with responsibility, accountability and science.

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