Covid 19 coronavirus: Broadcaster Sela Alo urges New Zealanders to stop spreading misinformation

A broadcaster who recovered from Covid-19 is urging New Zealanders not to participate in online abuse or spread conspiracy theories after a false rumour went viral.

Sela Alo spoke to The Hits Pick-Up show host Laura McGoldrick and told her what he learnt from his experience having the virus. The former Flava breakfast show co-host, who now works at the Pacific Media Network, urged New Zealanders to not engage with misinformation. Last week a Facebook post went viral with a false theory about how the family at the centre of the Auckland cluster caught the virus.

Alo wants New Zealanders to remember the virus is the issue, not the person with the virus.

"If we focus our lens on that, and remove any particular person, any racial profiling, and concentrate on the virus, then I think we're in a better position to really move forward as a country.

"We're part of a team. If you're one of the selfish people spreading online content that is not verified, that is not from a verified source, then you are not part of this team.

He praised the family for getting tested and not being complacent while New Zealand was under Covid-19 alert level 1 and went over 100 days without a recorded case of community transmission.

"I want to acknowledge that this family, who in our complacency who got sick, actually had the courage to say, 'you know what, I need to get a test'."

Sela Alo talked to The Hits after the family at the centre of the Auckland Covid-19 cluster was subject to online abuse. Photo / Facebook - Sela Alo

He says New Zealanders should not be pointing fingers at the family, and said the "keyboard warriors" engaging and spreading misinformation have a "really selfish attitude".

Alo was diagnosed with the virus in March and recovered after being sick for two to three weeks.

"At that stage, I thought of one: my family, and two: everybody that sprung into my mind that I thought I had been in contact with," he said.

"No one caught it from me, even my family didn't catch it.

"This thing is serious, this [virus] is real. I was just really blessed and fortunate that I managed to contain it really well."

He encouraged all New Zealanders to look out for one another by wearing masks and practising social distancing.

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“When I see you wearing a mask and applying the rules, that says to me...you got my back man! We’re on the same team. If we apply that, we’ll get through this sooner rather than later”. These are the words of @selaalo , a COVID-19 survivor. Let’s all get on his level fam, we’re a team - we back each other up 💯 Lessssgooo ✊🏾 #WeGotYourBackNZ #UniteAgainstCovid19 #PacificAotearoa @uniteagainstcovid19 @531pi @tagatapasifika @tagatapasifika @pacificbusinesstrust @pasifikafutures @pasifikaeducationcentre @niufm @mai_fm @pasefikaproud @pasifika_medical_association

A post shared by Pacific Aotearoa (@pacificaotearoa) on Aug 18, 2020 at 2:37am PDT

"When I see somebody that I don't know, and they're applying the 2m social distancing outside, that says to me that the person has my back.

"What these people are doing who are hurling online abuse at other people and saying that this thing isn't real, actually are saying I haven't got your back, 'I'm more worried about me than you'."

The untrue post about the family forced Health Minister Chris Hipkins to deny the rumour.

Hipkins said in a press conference on Saturday that people should not believe everything on social media.

The Covid-19 response team then tweeted: "We've heard reports of a rumour that the current cluster is linked to someone entering one of our managed isolation facilities.

"There is no evidence to support this. We ask people to stop circulating those rumours as they are counter-productive to our efforts against Covid-19."

Listen to the full interview with McGoldrick below.