THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IS MARKED BY THE BATTLE TO GET THE VIRUS UNDER CONTROL WITH MASK GUIDELINES AND VACCINE RECOMMENDATIONS. BUT IT IS ALSO COLORED BY BATTLES OVER MISINFORMATION AND CONSPIRACY THEORIES ABOUT EVERYTHING FROM VACCINES... TO TREATMENTS... AND EVEN THE ORIGINS OF THE VIRUS.
CSU POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR DOMINIK STECULA RESEARCHED THOSE CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND HOW THEY IMPACT PERSONAL BELIEFS.
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--From March of 2020 to April of 2021, Stecula and partners Mark Pickup (Simon Fraser University) and Clifton van der Linden (McMaster University) conducted research on COVID-19 conspiracy theory beliefs and media influences in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.
--Stecula and his partners identified numerous findings about people’s beliefs and the roles media play, including that Americans are three times more likely than these other countries to share COVID-19 conspiracy theories and misinformation with their social networks.