Beware Of Omicron Hoax Attacks During COVID-19 Spike

Covid Illustration/Photo: Pixabay

BANJARMASIN - Member of the Expert Team at Lambung Mangkurat University (ULM) for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 in the Anthropology Sector Nasrullah asked the public to be aware of hoax attacks related to Omicron during the current surge in COVID-19. According to Nasrullah, the flow of false information actually hinders community participation efforts in preventing and healing from COVID-19. For this reason, community participation in fighting hoaxes is very important, given the spread of "At least we are not the first group of people to spread false information," he stressed. Nasrullah admitted, many factors caused hoaxes to still occur and spread quickly. to others via social media. So, there is a kind of pride if you share information early. Second, there is a low level of reading literacy which means studying the text or shows received and this section is not only among lower education circles such as elementary school graduates but also among graduates of undergraduate education. "Recipients of messages or information in in the form of text, audio or audio visuals, they tend not to see comparisons of information," said the expert on community anthropology who graduated from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. Third, even if you read the contents of the information, you are usually stuck with the word viral, spread, or words containing religious terms that seem to be legitimacy to participate in spreading it. Nasrullah refers to the site https://covid19.go.id/p/hoax-buster where until February 8, 2022 there are 14 types of hoax information. hoaxes in national areas "Beware of Hoaxes: The Ngaji Teacher in Balangan is paralyzed after being vaccinated". , hoaxes should not be mentioned as hoax news but use the term hoax information. Apart from understanding hoax itself as false information, news itself is also a journalistic product which ideally goes through a cross check stage and a strict editing process. "Tips for recipients not to disseminate immediately, to read repeatedly or examine information before it is disseminated. It would be better if it was related to COVID-19 by looking for hoax buster information," said the member of the South Kalimantan COVID-19 Task Force for Public Communication.