Flutterby™! : Sean Hannity spread COVID-19

A disturbing new study suggests Sean Hannity’s show helped spread the coronavirus

First, the authors provide evidence that there was a difference in how Hannity and Carlson covered the coronavirus outbreak in February and early March. Second, they present data from their poll showing that Hannity viewers were less likely to follow social distancing rules than Carlson viewers. Third, they used data on television viewership and the coronavirus to show that higher rates of Hannity viewership relative to Carlson viewership were correlated with higher rates of local infection and death.

It seems pretty clear, from the first section, that Carlson took this way more seriously than Hannity. On February 25, Carlson warned that the virus could kill as many as a million Americans. On February 27, Hannity said it was less dangerous than car crashes or the common flu.

Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago: Misinformation During a Pandemic Leonardo Bursztyn, Aakaash Rao, Christopher Roth, David Yanagizawa-Drott