A call to arms: helping family, friends and communities navigate the COVID-19 infodemic

With information on COVID-19 evolving daily, the public is confronted with a mix of partial information, conflicting information and sometimes outright misinformation. Who should they turn to for the truth? In the context of acute uncertainty, I discuss what scientists can do to help mitigate the misinformation about what we do know and give some context to help decision-making in the unfolding story of COVID-19. In this Comment, Heidi Larson discusses the COVID-19 'infodemic' and suggests the ways in which scientists can help to mitigate the spread of misinformation.