At least three elected officials who oversee the Montgomery County Hospital District are contradicting their own experts, spreading misinformation about COVID-19 on Facebook and questioning the effectiveness of facial masks and vaccines, according to an analysis of their posts on social media by the Houston Chronicle .
While county health officials emphasize the importance of masks, social detachment and the new COVID-19 vaccines, their messages compete on social media with rampant falsehoods about the pandemic.
Some falsehoods are being spread by the hospital district board members themselves. Council President Georgette Whatley said one of her posts had generated complaints from critics who asked for her removal from the public health agency.
“They were offended because I’m an anti-mask,” wrote Whatley last month on Facebook. Her agency operates the county’s ambulance service; offers educational programs; and manages the Montgomery County Public Health District, a separate agency that provides updates of COVID-19 to the public. Despite the name, the hospital district no longer has a hospital.
Two other seven-member board members turned to Facebook to vent their frustrations with medical experts, the “big pharmaceutical industry” and the “fake news” media.
“More and more evidence is emerging that we should NOT get the COVID vaccine,” wrote board member Bog Bagley in an August 3 Facebook post. Bagley said in December that he would not get the vaccine – in the same month, the hospital district posted a video on YouTube extolling the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.
Another board member, Brent Thor, shared a meme on Facebook that spread misleading information about the COVID-19 death rate. In another post, he shared a meme that said, “Those who sell panic are the same who sell the vaccine.”
All three board members, who work in unpaid positions, define their Facebook posts as “public”, meaning that they can be seen by anyone. Bagley and Thor did not respond to phone, email and Facebook messages for this article. Whatley referred the questions to the hospital district.
Misti Willingham, a district spokesman, said the agency respects elected officials’ First Amendment rights to express their views. She emphasized that no board member tried to stop health officials from doing their job by providing accurate information to the public.
“They don’t interfere with our daily work or our mission,” said Willingham.
Council members are not alone in their skepticism about the government’s response to the Montgomery County pandemic, where 70% of voters supported Donald Trump in the last presidential election.
County Judge Mark Keough, who hired COVID-19 last month, criticized Governor Greg Abbott’s blocking orders and encouraged residents to ignore health officials’ warnings and celebrate the holidays together.
Montgomery County has reported 332 COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began, but its infection and mortality rates are lower than most Texas counties, according to data published by state health officials. On a per capita basis, it ranks 187th out of 254 counties for cumulative coronavirus cases and almost the last for fatalities.
Corinne Berry, a founding member of the Society for Health Communication and vice president of the Maryland company CommunicateHealth Inc., said it’s easy for catchy, fact-free memes to drown out medical experts who are trying to provide truthful and proven advice to the public.
“We have the burden of science and proof,” said Berry. “Sometimes this means that we cannot send messages as fast as those that are intentionally spreading misinformation. The truth need not be on their side. “
‘Distorted reports’
In several Facebook posts, Bagley incorrectly claimed that the “fake news” media and health experts were involved in a global conspiracy to spread fear about COVID-19.
“The media and the medical field lie, with their propaganda and reports distorted from the beginning,” wrote Bagley in September.
Bagley, a retired veteran and an avid supporter of Donald Trump, echoed the president’s claims publicizing the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19, which contradicts the FDA’s more cautious guidelines.
More recently, Bagley wrote on Facebook that he attended the pro-Trump rally on January 6 at Capitol Hill, which turned into a violent uprising. He told his Facebook followers that he was on Capitol Hill when the crowd was attacked with tear gas by the police. Bagley did not say that he fought the police or entered the beleaguered building.
Most responses to Bagley’s posts on Facebook were supportive. But critics occasionally interfered. When Bagley shared an anti-vaccine video on YouTube last month, which was later taken down by Facebook for violating his policy against disinformation, he complained that “paid socialist fact checkers didn’t like it”
“Huh … and are you on the MoCo Hospital District Council?” wrote a Facebook commentator, William Bingman, who said he studied molecular biology and that the video Bagley shared was “bullshit”.
“I’m so glad you’re the expert,” replied Bagley. “Bless your heart.”
‘Spreading fear’
Whatley shared a link to “Plandemic”, a debunked documentary about COVID-19, and in November she insisted that “she will not succumb to hysteria” or “believe false news”. Instead, she planned to spend the holidays hugging family members to embrace the joys of the season, she wrote.
Meanwhile, health officials across Texas urged residents to limit contact with friends and family while on vacation. Last week, COVID-19 hospitalizations in Texas have increased by 30 percent since Christmas.
In an interview with Golden Hammer, a conservative Montgomery county website, Whatley accused the government – including the county’s public health district – of fomenting fear.
“I believe the government is spreading the fear,” Whatley told the site in August. “Stores that require masks everywhere you go are spreading fear, and people are also outraged if you go into the store and you are not wearing the mask. Our own public health district in Montgomery County is spreading fear. “
Whatley said he opposes mandatory mask requirements, even after the hospital district told his own social media followers that wearing masks helps to reduce the spread of the virus. During the holidays, Whatley jokingly shared a photo on Facebook of a Christmas tree adorned with masks that she said she refused to use. She later said that “liberal strangers” complained to the hospital district and demanded her removal from the council.
“It is clear that they do not understand the organization charts or the electoral process,” Whatley wrote on Facebook. Whatley said the hospital district has not had the authority to remove her from the council since she was elected by taxpayers.
“Honestly, I’m not even an anti-mask,” she wrote. “I am only against the requirement. I stay away from people and don’t really go out in public very much. If people CHOOSE to wear a mask, it is their right to do so and I will support them in their decision to do so. “
Whatley said he had “absolutely nothing to do with the day-to-day affairs of the hospital district and praised the“ highly competent and experienced people ”who work there.
But she has no intention of being quiet.
“I did not agree to give up my right to freedom of expression when I was elected to this council in 2004,” said Whatley. “I am still entitled to my personal opinions.”
Data journalist Jordan Rubio contributed to this report