Op-Ed: How conspiracy theories about COVID-19 prey on Latinos

Last year, I was working on a coronavirus story for the PBS NewsHour when my father texted me a since-removed YouTube video titled, “How to wipe out the corona virus THT in 10 min.” A chiropractor with a graying beard named John Bergman — with more than half a million YouTube subscribers and an office in Huntington Beach — said that taking vitamin C and drinking hot water would kill the virus and that the pandemic media coverage was “designed to take away your rights.” Since the pandemic began, Latinos like my dad, a Mexican immigrant, have been hit with a torrent of false claims about COVID-19 on social media, including that the pandemic is a hoax. “Once somebody has consumed misinformation such that they’ve internalized it and formed an assessment, it’s extraordinarily difficult and resource-intensive to get them to change their mind,” said Angelo Carusone, chief executive of Media Matters and the lab’s co-founder. Another relative told me she won’t get the vaccine because she’s suspicious of accelerated clinical trials and doesn’t want to be a “guinea pig,” even though scientists did not cut any corners. My cousin sent it to me through Facebook.” She said she’s been wary of official information because the government had done a “poor job preventing and controlling the disease.” Systemic neglect, police brutality and violent immigration enforcement don’t exactly encourage Latinos’ trust.