On March 11 2020, The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. As the rate of infections and the death toll continue to rise, fear, racism, panic buying, and conspiracy theories have become increasingly common.
Although conspiracy theories emerged as a cultural phenomenon in the 20th century, similar occurrences have been observed alongside past pandemics.
When outbreaks occur, people often find scapegoats to blame. Jews were shunned during the Bubonic Plague in the 1500s. During the 1918 Spanish flu, people feared it was being deliberately spread by Germans.
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