Facebook Official Disputes Company Is To Blame For Propelling Covid Myths

Axios: Facebook Exec Blames Society For COVID Misinformation
Longtime Facebook veteran Andrew Bosworth insists that political and COVID-19 misinformation are societal problems rather than issues that have been magnified by social networks. Critics say Facebook and other social networks have played a significant role in vaccine hesitancy and the spread of political misinformation. "Individual humans are the ones who choose to believe or not believe a thing. They are the ones who choose to share or not share a thing," Bosworth said in an interview with "Axios on HBO." "I don't feel comfortable at all saying they don't have a voice because I don't like what they said." (Fried, 12/12)

The Hill: Facebook Exec Says 'People,' Not Platform, To Blame For Vaccine Misinformation
Facebook executive Andrew Bosworth said in an interview aired Sunday that the burden of misinformation spreading on the social media platform fell on individual users. "I think that Facebook ran probably the biggest COVID vaccine campaign in the world," Bosworth told "Axios on HBO" when asked if he thought vaccine hesitancy would be the same with or without social media. "What more can you do if some people who are going to get that real information from a real source choose not to get it?" he said. (Beals, 12/12)

USA Today: Omicron Variant Fuels COVID Misinformation: How To Spot False Claims
As scientists continue to learn more about the new strain, public health experts say the dearth of instant data is prompting some to seek out whatever scant information they can find. Others are seizing the opportunity to spread disinformation. ... The latest claim stemmed from a social media post of an apparent movie poster with the title, “The Omicron Variant,” and a caption reading “An Italian film from 1963.” The Facebook post was shared 300 times in a day, and the same image was retweeted more than 1,700 times. While some user comments claimed the poster predicted the appearance of the omicron variant, others said they believed it was proof global organizations invented the new strain to control the narrative of the pandemic. ... The image turned out to be a movie poster from 1974 digitally edited as a joke, the image’s creator Becky Cheatle told USA TODAY in a Twitter message. (Rodriguez, 12/11)

Covid cases are surging in many parts of the U.S. —

CBS News: One Year After FDA Authorized Pfizer's COVID Vaccine, Cases Are On The Rise 
Saturday marks one year since the Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine — the first of three COVID-19 vaccines now in use in the United States.  During that time, more than 480 million shots have been administered, and just over 60% of eligible Americans are fully vaccinated. But even with those protections, case numbers have gone up 22% in the past two weeks. Confirmed COVID cases showed up this week at an average rate of 120,000 per day, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ninety-nine percent of those new cases are from Delta variant, not Omicron. (12/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Cases Rise In Many States After Thanksgiving 
Covid-19 is surging in many parts of the country in the wake of Thanksgiving, with Christmastime gatherings on the horizon. Health authorities in some hard-hit states, like Vermont, New Jersey and Maine, say people who became infected after traveling or gathering indoors for Thanksgiving are likely adding to the Covid-19 numbers. By Saturday, some 34 states had higher seven-day averages for new cases than they did before Thanksgiving, according to Johns Hopkins University data, with some of the biggest increases in the Northeast. (Kamp and Lovett, 12/12)

The New York Times: As U.S. Covid Deaths Near 800,000, 1 Of Every 100 Older Americans Has Perished 
As the coronavirus pandemic approaches the end of a second year, the United States stands on the cusp of surpassing 800,000 deaths from the virus, and no group has suffered more than older Americans. All along, older people have been known to be more vulnerable, but the scale of loss is only now coming into full view. Seventy-five percent of people who have died of the virus in the United States — or about 600,000 of the nearly 800,000 who have perished so far — have been 65 or older. One in 100 older Americans has died from the virus. For people younger than 65, that ratio is closer to 1 in 1,400. (Bosman, Harmon and Sun, 12/13)

Also —

CIDRAP: Study Suggests Heart Damage May Last Up To 1 Year In COVID-19 Patients
A small study of 66 COVID-19 patients suggests that those who continue to be short of breath during physical activity 1 year after recovery may have suffered heart damage, according to new data presented at EuroEcho 2021, a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology. The 66 patients were hospitalized for COVID-19 in March and April of 2020 at the University Hospital in Brussels, Belgium. None had previous heart or lung disease. The average patient age was 50 years, and 67% were men. (12/10)

CIDRAP: Face Mask, Other PPE Litter Skyrockets Amid Pandemic 
The proliferation of face coverings to protect against COVID-19 has had a devastating, lasting effect on the environment, with a 9,000% increase in mask litter over 14 months in 11 countries, finds an observational study led by UK researchers yesterday in Nature Sustainability. Discarded gloves and used disinfectant wipes have also added to the refuse, the increase of which was likely driven by national COVID-19 policy responses—particularly face mask mandates—and World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, the researchers said. (Van Beusekom, 12/10)