Coronavirus Social: Facebook Physician Memorial
What your doctor is reading on Medscape.com:
APRIL 25, 2020 — While Facebook lit a virtual candle in remembrance of physicians who have died fighting COVID-19, Twitter was on fire over presidential comments about injecting disinfectants as a cure. Elsewhere on social media this week, YouTube tries to eradicate videos pushing fake facts and MDedge Psychiatry held a tweet chat on the impact of coronavirus on mental health.
Memorial Page for Physicians
“We should not forget the physicians who have and will die trying to help. If you know of a doctor who has died, please post his or her name, obituary, or story,” reads the description for a new COVID-19 Physician’s Memorial Facebook page dedicated to remembering doctors who have lost their lives to the coronavirus.
The page was created at the beginning of April and its nearly 3000 members have already posted hundreds of stories, pictures, and obituaries for physicians who have died from coronavirus. The page is public, but requires admin approval to gain access.
Medscape’s “In Memoriam” has been shared more than 80,000 times on Facebook. It lists more than 200 healthcare workers of all types worldwide who have succumbed to the coronavirus, and continues to add names.
Don’t Drink Bleach, Physicians Warn
The terms bleach, Lysol, Windex, and Clorox were all trending worldwide on social media after a recent US Coronavirus Taskforce press conference where President Trump suggested injecting or ingesting disinfectants could be a cure for coronavirus.
Med Twitter expressed horror and dismay over the comments.
“Please don’t drink bleach or isopropyl alcohol to remove #COVID19 from your saliva. Please,” emergency medicine physician Dara Kass, MD said in a tweet moments after the conference ended. Her tweet was liked nearly 50,000 times and shared nearly 12,000 times with hundreds more leaving comments expressing everything from concern to shock to amusement over the controversial statements.
“I am reasonably certain you don’t need a medical degree to suss this out, but in case you need to hear it from a professional: things that are safe and effective outside the body are not necessarily so inside it. The inside and outside of your body are different in many ways,” tweeted pediatrician Daniel Summers, MD.
