One of the most serious aspects of the coronavirus crisis is that senior doctors – some of whom hold or have held high-ranking positions in the Health Ministry and public hospitals – are being interviewed and offhandedly spreading misleading, mistaken, and even mendacious and manipulative "information" about corona being "just another flu."
Last week, a high-ranking doctor at one of Israel's biggest hospitals was asked if the country could expect to see a second wave of the virus, and she responded that there had never been a first wave of coronavirus in Israel. These doctors are making careless statements, and the media – especially TV – is crowing. Some of them have turned into stand-up comedians, verging on circus performers.
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Some of the doctors are using the opportunity to clash with the Health Ministry, as opposed to voicing necessary criticism, and others are trying to promote their hospitals for private corona testing, which the ministry has prohibited.
The main problem with the false information being propagated is that it is influencing some of the public, who think that it supports ridiculous and dangerous theories, one being that the virus is a media invention and that the data regarding hundreds of thousands of dead and millions of cases worldwide is fictional. In some cases, whether the doctors intend it or not, the misinformation is being used by the small but dangerous anti-vaxxer group even as the world is hoping for a vaccine that will deliver it from the virus.
The most serious problem is that these doctors are affecting much of the public's willingness to comply with instructions from the Health Ministry, whether it's wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, or following regulations for schools, restaurants, and shops.
The way some of the public understands the situation is that if a senior administrator at a huge hospital in central Israel says decisively that there was never a wave of coronavirus in the country, what possible reason could there be to follow the instructions now? And if another hospital administrator says that coronavirus won't reach Israel and his hospital won't have to treat these cases, why should anyone listen to outgoing Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman-Tov? The damage is worse when we look at the figures, which show a rise in corona cases over the past few days.
Thus far, Israel has done very well, when compared to the rest of the world, in containing the damage caused by the virus and is one of the countries that is getting back to normal fairly quickly. However, when we are facing a new virus for which there is no vaccine or medicine, the main course of treatment should be supplying the public with complete, reliable information; building up the public's faith in the Health Ministry; and pointing to top-ranking doctors and health care workers as examples of ideal behavior. All this is being attacked by a small handful of doctors who are disseminating misinformation that could harm our health and lives.
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