As the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus exceeds 120,000 worldwide, individuals and communities are increasingly required to make judgments about the trustworthiness of institutions and information. The Director General of the World Health Organization recently proclaimed, “We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic.” There is a reason the term viral applies to both. False information about pandemic threats spreads faster than the health risk, creating confusion and panic and making it harder to mount a public health response.

This is an immediate stress test in the collective effort including government, media, and private industry to build resilience against active disinformation and passive misinformation. Human lives hang in the balance. Yet, while major societal institutions should be enjoying high levels of trust, the Edelman Trust Barometer 2020 survey shows that no institution is trusted.

How can individuals access, verify, and act on trustworthy information about the coronavirus outbreak? How are non-epidemiological considerations—including geopolitics and geoeconomics—continuing to shape the response to this potential pandemic? What should governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and the media be doing to inform and earn the trust of the publics they are seeking to protect?

Read more about the geopolitical and economic implications of coronavirus

As the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak continues to accelerate its spread worldwide, the international community is facing a global crisis with public health, geopolitical, and economic repercussions. Go beyond the headlines to access the Atlantic Council’s deep expertise in policy areas impacted by this growing global emergency.