--- title: COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Are a Public Health Threat description: People who believe pandemic conspiracies are less likely to follow public health guidelines, a study found. canonical: https://time.com/5891333/covid-19-conspiracy-theories/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-09-21T21:05:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:07:03.273Z article:section: Health og:title: COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Are a Public Health Threat og:description: People who believe pandemic conspiracies are less likely to follow public health guidelines, a study found og:url: https://time.com/5891333/covid-19-conspiracy-theories/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6696334cfa455909/698a127216d8844526c38a04/COVID-is-a-hoax.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Re-opening Continues Across Densely Populated New York And New Jersey Areas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Are a Public Health Threat twitter:description: People who believe pandemic conspiracies are less likely to follow public health guidelines, a study found twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6696334cfa455909/698a127216d8844526c38a04/COVID-is-a-hoax.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Are Spreading Rapidly—and They're a Public Health Risk All Their Own > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=0f1ad370-ed4a-4eaf-a819-f72f77ac1423&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Why Conspiracy Theories Flourish Amidst Uncertainty [Watch (HLS stream): Why Conspiracy Theories Flourish Amidst Uncertainty](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ylORHpEe.m3u8) (5:27)  _Published 2020-05-15. Katie Couric interviews Emily Vraga, Associate Professor of Health Communication about why conspiracy theories are so dangerous right now._  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Sep 21, 2020 9:05 PM UTC Katie Couric interviews Emily Vraga, Associate Professor of Health Communication about why conspiracy theories are so dangerous right now.  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Sep 21, 2020 9:05 PM UTC Public health crises have spawned conspiracy theories as far back as when the Black Death ravaged Europe in the 1300s, as people desperately try to make sense of the chaotic forces disrupting their lives. While modern science offers a better understanding of how diseases infect people and how to contain them, [COVID-19 conspiracy theories](https://time.com/5887437/conspiracy-theories-2020-election/) are spreading rapidly via social media, unreliable news outlets and from our own political leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump. The result: many Americans now believe pandemic-related conspiracy theories—and, alarmingly, those same people are less likely to take steps to prevent the virus from spreading. In a University of Pennsylvania Annenberg Public Policy Center study [published Monday](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795362030575X?via%3Dihub#bib10) in _Social Science & Medicine_, researchers surveyed a group of 840 U.S. adults—first in late March, and then again in mid-July—to determine how Americans’ beliefs and actions regarding the pandemic changed over time. Overall, they found that COVID-19 conspiracy theories are not only commonplace, they’re gaining traction. Back in March, 28% of people believed a [debunked rumor](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/09/coronavirus-origins-misinformation-yan-report-fact-check-cvd/) that the Chinese government created the coronavirus as a bioweapon; that number rose to 37% by July. About 24% believed that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exaggerated the virus’ danger to hurt Trump politically despite a lack of evidence; by July, that figure rose to 32%. And in March, about 15% of respondents said they believed that the pharmaceutical industry created the virus to boost drug and vaccine sales—another unfounded theory—compared to 17% in July. Whether or not someone thinks NASA hired Stanley Kubrick to fake the moon landing has little bearing on the world beyond that person. But in the case of a pandemic—which requires people to follow public health guidance in order to keep one another safe—conspiratorial thinking can have disturbing consequences. Indeed, the Annenberg study found that only 62% of people who were most likely to believe the coronavirus conspiracies said they [wear a mask](https://time.com/5861295/masks-covid19-spread-fighting/) every day when they’re around other people away from home, compared to 95% of non-believers. Furthermore, people who believe COVID-19 conspiracy theories were 2.2 times less likely to say they wanted to [receive a vaccine](https://time.com/5887777/rushed-vaccine-democrats-republicans/) in March; by July, they were 3.5 times less likely to want to be vaccinated. “Belief in pandemic conspiracy theories appears to be an obstacle to minimizing the spread of COVID-19,” said Dan Romer, Annenberg Public Policy Center research director and a study co-author, in a statement. Where are people picking up COVID-19 conspiracy theories? Believers were more likely to be heavy users of social media and viewers of [conservative media](https://time.com/5881595/right-wing-conspiracy-theorists-coronavirus/) like Fox News, the study found. Meanwhile, people who watch other television news channels were more likely to follow public health guidance and to desire vaccination. While the researchers say they understand how pandemic conspiracy theories are spreading, they say it’s still a challenge to get believers to reconsider once they’re sucked in. [Other research](https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85033238001&origin=inward&txGid=7279f919b49ccd9398fbda7889ca217a) suggests that simply correcting false information doesn’t usually work—and can even cause some people to believe conspiracies even more deeply. “Conspiracy theories are difficult to displace because they provide explanations for events that are not fully understood, such as the current pandemic, play on people’s distrust of government and other powerful actors, and involve accusations that cannot be easily fact-checked,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Annenberg Public Policy Center director and study co-author, in a statement. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5891333/covid-19-conspiracy-theories/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5891333/covid-19-conspiracy-theories/"},"headline":"COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Are Spreading Rapidly—and They're a Public Health Risk All Their Own","datePublished":"2020-09-21T21:05:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-14T09:07:03.273Z","description":"People who believe pandemic conspiracies are less likely to follow public health guidelines, a study found","url":"https://time.com/5891333/covid-19-conspiracy-theories/","keywords":["COVID-19","UnitedWeRise20Disaster"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6696334cfa455909/698a127216d8844526c38a04/COVID-is-a-hoax.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara Law","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-law/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6696334cfa455909/698a127216d8844526c38a04/COVID-is-a-hoax.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Re-opening Continues Across Densely Populated New York And New Jersey Areas","caption":"Re-opening Continues Across Densely Populated New York And New Jersey Areas","creditText":"Getty Images—2020 Noam Galai","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5891333/covid-19-conspiracy-theories/","name":"COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Are Spreading Rapidly—and They're a Public Health Risk All Their Own"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why Conspiracy Theories Flourish Amidst Uncertainty","description":"Katie Couric interviews Emily Vraga, Associate Professor of Health Communication about why conspiracy theories are so dangerous right now.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ylORHpEe/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-05-15T17:47:47.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ylORHpEe.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5891333/covid-19-conspiracy-theories/","duration":"PT5M27S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5891333/covid-19-conspiracy-theories/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```