You may not be out going door-to-door to fight COVID-19 in your neighborhood. Then again … you may be. People certainly are, and to great effect. But whether you’re just trying to keep safe in your local grocery, or going up against screaming meme-ers at your local school board, what the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) posted on Tuesday could come in handy.  In a new advisory (.pdf), Surgeon General Vivek Murthy urges “all Americans to help slow the spread of health misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.” Murthy warns that not only does this misinformation spread confusion and distrust, it represents its own threat to public health that only compounds the effects of the disease. At a time when everyone needs to pull together in a “whole-of-society effort” misinformation—whether accidentally or deliberately spread—is tearing us apart. As an example of the last effects of misinformation, Murthy points out how “a poorly designed study” in the 1990s lead to the false link between childhood vaccines and autism. That false claim, adopted by anti-vaxx forces and those out to victimize communities for profit, has directly led to thousands of unnecessary illnesses and to the unnecessary death of children. In another instance, false claims about the connection between HIV and AIDS both helped spread the disease and slowed potential cures. Which makes the toolkit provided by HHS a good resource for anyone—including schools and community groups—who needs to push back against both poorly informed misinformation and deliberately spread disinformation. Read more