The Covidiots of the COVID-19 Infodemic: A Systems Perspective

Background: The paper explores the emergence of covidiots during an infodemic in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemics are a fertile breeding ground for covidiots, who emerge as a consequence of public health infodemic such as COVID-19. The core challenge of a public health infodemic is the distortion of compliance information which inhibits positive public recovery from a pandemic. Covidiots, the individuals who are susceptible to, and emerge from infodemic; exacerbate pandemic recovery efforts and interventions.Methods: This paper employs Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), a system thinking analytical lens to explore and explicate the nature of covidiots during the COVID-19 infodemic.Results: The role of information echo chambers, as facilitated by advancements in ubiquitous (digital) technologies, are deemed as an effective tool in eliciting homophily among susceptible digital citizens, resulting in covidiots. Societal interventions and suggestions which can be instrumental in mitigating d(m)isinformation) and ultimately emergence of covidiots are proposed. Conclusions: This study demonstrates a correlation between emergence of covidiots and infodemic as fueled by ubiquitous digital technologies.