Covid-19 rumor in rural Ky. a cautionary tale for small towns, especially when orders for isolation increase

Grayson County, Kentucky (Wikipedia map)

A recent incident in rural Kentucky highlights the hazards of relying on social media for news without fact-checking, as well as the power of an unchecked rumor in a small town.

It happened in Grayson County, pop. 27,000, when social media posts on April 11 and 12 identified a local man who had tested positive for covid-19, and falsely claimed that he was refusing to quarantine himself at home, Al Cross reports for Kentucky Health News. The posts claimed that the patient had been seen in several public locations after his diagnosis.

Local law enforcement and the health department fielded between 200 and 300 complaints, and on April 13, County Judge-Executive Kevin Henderson held a press conference to refute the posts, Cross reports. Over the weekend, "the Leitchfield Police Department, the sheriff’s office and health department — just about every law enforcement agency in the county was busy squashing rumors that were brought to our attention," Henderson said. Callers said they had personally seen the patient at Walmart and other places, but surveillance videos proved that false, he said. Henderson stressed that the patient was self-isolating, and had willingly surrendered his car keys to county officials.

County Attorney Jeremy Logsdon noted in an interview with a local weekly newspaper, The Record, that making false reports or starting false rumors is a crime, especially if done with the intent to bully or harass, Cross reports. He writes, "The episode may have been repeated in small towns across the country, and may be even likelier to be repeated as social-distancing rules are relaxed and health departments track down people who may have been exposed, and if they have, order them to self-isolate for 14 days."

UPDATE, April 27: The National Conference of State Legislatures says "Untruths undermine critical public information."