Thailand and many countries across the globe are preparing to live with COVID-19. Although many countries are facing record-breaking new daily cases, but number of hospitalizations and deaths are lower than the Delta wave last year. Some scientists and government officials believe the Omicron variant provides less severity of symptoms, especially among vaccinated people. Therefore, some countries, especially in Europe, the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Asia are in the transition to live with COVID-19 as an endemic disease. However, to live with COVID-19 safely, scientists still recommend people to be fully vaccinated or boosted, and still take precaution measures such as mask-wearing in crowded space because there are still some population who are unvaccinated.
Major airlines around the world cancelled some flights to US last week due to the deployment of 5G technology near major US airports. Some airlines worry that the radio frequency spectrum (C-Band) the US telecommunication companies use is too close to the radio frequency uses in aircraft instrument, which is important for aircraft landing in low visibility. According to the Federal Aviation Authority, the radio band that AT&T and Verizon, two major telecommunication companies in the US use for 5G does not interfere with aircraft instrument, but many experts suggest that the FAA and Federal Communication Commission (FCC) should work together and came up with better solution earlier so both 5G and aviation safety can coexist.
Volcanic eruption in Tonga last week was one of the strongest eruptions in years. It created a massive tsunami, affected many coastal areas in the US and Latin America. However, there have been a lot of misinformation related to this incident, including old photos and videos from previous eruptions in Europe and the Caribbean. Some contents can be spotted easily if you listen to the language they spoke in the videos, or can be debunked easily using a reverse image search platform.
For the past decade “Fake News” has been used to discredit journalists who expose corruptions and government’s scandals. Donald Trump often uses “Fake News” to discredit established news organizations, asking his supporters to watch conservative media outlets that spread misinformation about the election, which resulted in the January 6 insurrection. Fake News rhetoric is very popular in countries such as Russia, Myanmar, Venezuela, and Syria, where political leaders often use “Fake News” to attack journalists and democratic values. Many news organizations avoid using the term “Fake News” so they won’t be a part of political rhetoric, and replacing it with “Misinformation” or “Disinformation” to describe false or misleading information online or by people in power instead.
