Previously submitted to: JMIR Mental Health (no longer under consideration since May 05, 2020)
Date Submitted: Apr 17, 2020
Open Peer Review Period: Apr 17, 2020 - Apr 24, 2020
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
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Internet, COVID-19 and Mental Health: Information and Misinformation
ABSTRACT
As the number of confirmed cases of and deaths from COVID-19 grows fast, the health team and the general public are facing psychological suffering, including anxiety, depression, stress, anguish, boredom, loneliness, anger and suicide. These problems worsen when added to the consequences of the misinformation overload, which has spread uncertainty, fear, anxiety and racism on the internet on a scale never seen in previous epidemics, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and Zika. In this sense, the purpose of this Viewpoint article is to reflect this context, including the need for strategies to be developed by governments, health institutions, technology and communication companies to combat the ongoing pandemic.
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