Anita Lavorgna - Information Pollution as Social Harm: Investigating the Digital Drift of Medical Misinformation in a Time of Crisis

In early 2020, the world found itself facing a new challenge, with the outbreak of a novel coronavirus disease COVID-19, as it was first identified in December 2019 in the Hubei province of China spreading across countries, to the point that the outbreak was recognized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. The virus can cause, among other things, a severe acute respiratory syndrome. The mortality rate directly linked to this virus is estimated to be relatively low, but the impact on public health during the pandemic is considered extremely serious, with some people suffering long term consequences, and because of the progressive breakdown of many healthcare systems due to the number of patients likely to require critical care.

In Italy, the country at the core of the study reported in this book, the virus was first confirmed to be present on January 31, 2020; up to this date, national media reported news of the so-called (at that time) Chinese coronavirus, and the possibility of facing a pandemic was not part of public debates. In February, with a sharp increase in contagions and deaths, first only some municipalities in northern Italy and then the Lombardia region and whole provinces were placed under quarantine. During the second and third weeks of March, through a series of decrees, the quarantine was extended throughout the country, further limitations restricting the movement of people were imposed, and nearly all commercial activities except for essential businesses and industries were prohibited. In these first stages, the Italian case has been important in framing public health discussions in other countries and, especially in Europe, highlighting a number of concerns around the speed of the virus and potential issues with hospitalization and intensive care if services become overstretched in certain localities (Brown, 2020). Over the Summer, when the situation eased in the country, many restrictions were lifted, and then reinstated, depending on the progression of local outbreaks. At the time of writing, the situation is still very dynamic: after a second wave in Autumn and fears of a new rise in numbers linked to the Winter holidays and a new virus variant, new restrictions and (partial) lockdowns in Italy, as well as in other European countries, are starting, are still under development, or are threatened.