Abstract
The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) inspires various conspiracy theories, which could divert public attention, alter human behaviors, and consequently affect the spread of the pandemic. Here we estimate the relation of the online attention on COVID-19-related conspiracy theories to human mobility, as well as to the numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases, during 14 March 2020 to 28 August 2020. We observe that the online attention to COVID-19 conspiracy theories is significantly and negatively related to human mobility, but its negative impact is noticeably less than those of the attention to official information and personal protection measures. Since human mobility significantly promotes the spread of COVID-19, the attention to official information and personal protection measures lowers COVID-19 cases by 16.16% and 9.41%, respectively, while attention to conspiracy theories only reduces the COVID-19 cases by 6.65%. In addition, we find that in the states with higher online attention to COVID-19 conspiracy theories, the negative relation of the attention to conspiracy theories is much weaker than that in states where there is less concern about conspiracies. This study stresses the necessity of restricting the online transmission of unfounded conspiracy theories during a pandemic.
Highlights
During an epidemic, misinformation proliferates as fear grows, posing further damage to public health
We find that the values of all the three online attention series are significantly and negatively related to human mobility (p < 0.01)
This observation indicates that the online attention to the three types of content related to COVID-19 would prevent the general public from travelling as much as they usually do
Summary
Misinformation proliferates as fear grows, posing further damage to public health. A number of people firmly believe one influential conspiracy theory: COVID-19 does not exist, and the pandemic is a plot by global elites to rule the world [3]. They refused to wear masks [4] and launched protests against quarantine [5]. Facilitated by the Internet, these conspiracy theories have proliferated as the pandemic has worsened. Despite personal belief in conspiracy theories related to self-selection and predispositions [8,9], the spread of such misinformation could still divert public attention and subsequently affect the behaviors of a large number of people. It is of critical importance to understand the potential linkage between the attention on COVID-19 conspiracy theories, human behaviors and virus transmission
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