Leveraging Media and Health Communication Strategies to Overcome the COVID-19 Infodemic

The authors propose a 12-item checklist for countering the infodemic. The checklist includes providing increased exposure for medical and public health professionals, verifying their accounts, and promoting their posts on social media. Other recommended strategies include providing programs supporting mental health and for coping with stress, employing an empathic communication style, sharing personal stories to combat misinformation, directing communications towards people of different classes and ethnicities, and increasing research and development of health communication best practices.