. . . Bolivian president turns to pseudoscience; Islamophobic Covid-19 disinfo spreads

[Judi Lynn]

TEXT BY
GAUTAMA MEHTA
18 MAY, 2020

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This information appears around 1/2 way down the page:

As Bolivia passes 4,000 infections, its interim president Jeanine Áñez resorts to pseudoscience for her own protection — and buys the wrong kind of ventilator for everyone else

Áñez was recently spotted wearing a “Virus Shut Out” card. It’s a Japanese-made pseudoscientific prophylactic, much like the “AirDoctor” pendant, beloved of politicians from Russia to Lebanon, which Coda Story’s Isobel Cockerell reported on in last week’s Infodemic. And it’s been banned in the US by the EPA.

The president attracted a firestorm of criticism when it was revealed that the 500 ventilators that her government paid $5 million to have flown in turned out to be unusable in intensive care. The machines are meant to sustain patients in ambulances or emergency rooms for a couple hours at most. Coronavirus patients sometimes need respiratory assistance for more than a week.

Context: Jeanine Áñez was installed as Bolivia’s interim leader after what was widely regarded as a military coup in November.

More:
https://www.codastory.com/disinformation/infodemic-may-18/