Brian Lee Hitchens and his wife Erin both contracted COVID-19 in May, leading to complications resulting in the wife's death earlier this month, the BBC reported on Monday. Hitchens said that he and his wife were confused by misinformation and conspiracy theories they read on Facebook, leading them to avoid taking precautions to curb their chances of getting sick.
He told the BBC that they had at some point believed that it was being spread by 5Ga conspiracy theory that has been completely debunkedbut that it was simply a hoax.
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have ramped up their efforts to censor misinformation and remove posts that spread falsehoods about the pandemic.
President Donald Trump, who has publicly touted unscientific and unproven treatments for COVID-19, retweeted a video in July promoting hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug that scientists overwhelmingly agree does not appear to be an effective treatment against the pandemic.
As of Monday, the Southern state has the second-highest number of confirmed infectionsafter Californiaand the fifth highest number of deaths, according to The New York Times tracker.
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