3.2. Strategies Developed to Counter Fake News
To address the fake news situation, the research team intensified their communication activities, working with local media channels and community health clinics to further promote and dispel any suspicions about COESA. The team also sought support from local decision makers, and organized meetings and presentations with various groups and local institutions. As part of these efforts, a community liaison team was created. The team met with communication consultants from the municipality of Fortaleza and the Ceará state government. Presentations were then organized in churches, factories, and community radio stations in the different clusters to provide more information about COESA to the local populations.Despite these efforts, strategies to counter the misinformation were insufficient and the messages continued to circulate, resulting in increasingly aggressive reactions to study personnel and near consistent refusals to participate from community members. In February 2020, coinciding with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fortaleza experienced a police riot: police officers illegally organized riots and protests to demand better working conditions, further escalating violence in the city [