An Analysis of the Deleterious Impact of the Infodemic during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil: A Case Study Considering Possible Correlations with Socioeconomic Aspects of Brazilian Demography

Maria da Penha de Andrade Abi Harb, Lena Veiga e Silva, Nandamudi Lankalapalli Vijaykumar, Marcelino Silva da Silva and Carlos Renato Lisboa Francês
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Maria da Penha de Andrade Abi Harb: Institute of Technology, Federal University of Para, Belem 66075-110, Brazil
Lena Veiga e Silva: Center for Exact Sciences and Technology, University of Amazon, Belem 66060-902, Brazil
Nandamudi Lankalapalli Vijaykumar: National Institute for Space Research, Sao Jose dos Campos 12227-010, Brazil
Marcelino Silva da Silva: Institute of Engineering and Geosciences, Federal University of Western Para, Santarem 68040-255, Brazil
Carlos Renato Lisboa Francês: Institute of Technology, Federal University of Para, Belem 66075-110, Brazil

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: Due to COVID-19, a huge amount of incorrect information has been disseminated on the internet, which may interfere with the disease’s advance. This study analyzes the behavior of the Brazilian population during the pandemic, employing queries of infodemic data searched on Google Trends and relating them to socioeconomic and political indicators in the country. The z-score technique was used to standardize the data; and for multivalued analysis, dendrograms and the Elbow method detected similar patterns among Brazilian states. The result was divided into three analyses. In the analysis of the research trend of infodemic terms, the themes “Prevention and Beliefs” and “Treatment” prevailed. In the exploratory analysis, socioeconomic indicators related to income and education, as well as government programs, showed no impact on infodemic searches; but the results suggest that the states that supported the Brazilian president in the 2018 election, where he obtained more than 50% of the votes, were the states that most searched for infodemic terms: a total of 46.58% more infodemic searches than in the other states. In the multivalued analysis, the socioeconomic indicators used showed similarities in the patterns, highlighting a cluster containing 77% of all Brazilian states. The study concludes that denial about the pandemic and the influence of political leadership can influence infodemic information searches, contributing to a disorganization in the control of disease control and prevention measures.

Keywords: infodemic COVID-19; Google Trends; socio-economic variables; government programs; denialism; clustering; dendrogram (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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