Vera Nall: Misinformation will kill us in Southwest Missouri – Joplin Globe

This spring, Southwest Missouri folks thought the coronavirus was taking its last gasps, but it came back with a vengeance.

So, what happened? If we look back a year or so, we can see the beginnings of the reason.

COVID-19 news dominated the media, and ideas and opinions about how to protect ourselves swirled around us.

We eagerly soaked up information ranging from the reasonable to the ridiculous.

In this part of the world, Branson televangelist Jim Bakkers faithful followers received welcome news there was a cure for the threatening disease. A guest on the show assured believers that the product, Silver Solution, could totally eliminate the virus. Lucky viewers could buy a bottle of this magic COVID-19-killer for just $80 (NPR, March 11, 2020).

Bakkers remedy was a fraud and as part of a legal settlement he agreed to pay back at least $156,000 in restitution.

But, compared to Springfield-area health clinic owner and state Rep. Patricia Derges, R-Nixa, Bakker was a small fish.

Derges operated for-profit clinics in Springfield, Ozark and Branson and a nonprofit, Lift Up Someone Today, in Springfield.

Her clinics charged $167 each for COVID-19 tests, bringing in approximately $517,000. She is accused of fraudulently acquiring CARES Act funds through Lift Up by billing Greene County for tests that had already been paid for by other payers. She allegedly received $296,574, which she diverted to her for-profit Ozark Valley Medical Clinic.

Another major moneymaker was a regenerative stem-cell treatment that she is accused of advertising as a safe and natural potential cure for COVID-19. It didnt actually have any stem cells, according to prosecutors.

Derges was indicted on charges of felony wire fraud, illegal distribution of controlled substances, and making false statements. Her statehouse colleagues removed her from committee assignments in the state Capitol.

However, Chicago former osteopath Joseph Mercolas natural health operations make Bakker and Derges look like small fry. Mercola, a pioneer of the anti-vaccine movement, is the most influential spreader of COVID-19 misinformation online, researchers say.

In the last 10 years Mercola has built a vast operation that boosted his net worth to more than $100 million. He is listed as top man in the Disinformation Dozen, the group of 12 people responsible for sharing 65% of all anti-vaccine messaging on social media (The New York Times, July 25, 2021).

But theres an even larger fish in this propaganda sea, our longtime adversary: Russia.

It has weaponized COVID-19 misinformation in worldwide propaganda campaigns that push anti-vax messages on a large scale by using bots on troll farms and influencers recruited on Facebook. Reuters reported on Aug. 10 that Facebook had removed a network of accounts from Russia aimed at enlisting influencers to push anti-vaccine messaging.

Here in our corner of the world, these misleading campaigns have been overwhelmingly successful. Vaccination rates are low and more than 500 residents in the two-county Joplin metro area have lost their lives to the COVID-19 pandemic. On a recent weekend, 18 patients in Mercy and Freeman hospitals died.

The fallout from misinformation goes beyond the physical toll. The tsunami of divisive messaging has thrown our communities into chaos, torn relationships apart and caused menacing confrontations.

Were swimming in a sea of misinformation.

Lets try to avoid drowning in it.

Vera Nall lives in Neosho.

Read the original post:
Vera Nall: Misinformation will kill us in Southwest Missouri - Joplin Globe