09/07/2020

Doctors and Nurses Take to TikTok to Fight COVID Myths

Widespread misinformation is creating obstacles for medical experts

When Christina Kim joined TikTok, she was looking for a new form of entertainment. Like many people during quarantine, she scrolled through the platform aimlessly, liking funny dance videos and posting clips about being a mom and nurse practitioner during the pandemic. But after a while, she noticed a concerning trend: videos and comments filled with false information about COVID-19.

“It was a huge eye opener,” she said. “I was so shocked to be exposed to this world of people—people who didn’t believe in science.”

On a whim in July, she posted a video from work with text that read, “Wearing a mask will NOT affect your oxygenation or cause ‘carbon dioxide poisoning.’” Over Valentino Khan & Wuki’s song “Better,” she puts on a surgical mask while hooked up to a pulse oximeter, which estimates the percentage of your blood that is saturated with oxygen. The oximeter reads 98 percent (within the normal range). She then puts on a thicker surgical mask, then an N95 mask, and finally all three together. Her oxygen level never drops below 98 percent.

Please select this link to read the complete article from WIRED.