#FilmYourHospitals

Submission 13,666

Part of a series on COVID-19 Pandemic. [View Related Entries]

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About

#FilmYourHospitals is a hashtag that was started by conspiracy theorists during the March 2020 coronavirus outbreak to share videos of hospitals from the outside. The videos typically show little activity outside hospitals and are used to support unfounded theories that the coronavirus outbreak is a hoax.

Origin

On March 28th, 2020, Twitter user @22CenturyAssets^[4] began the hashtag #filmyourhospital following some videos circulating of seemingly vacant hospitals. The tweet garnered over 100 likes in ten days (shown below).

Spread

On March 28th, 2020, Fox News host Todd Starnes shared a video to Twitter with the caption, "This is the 'war zone' outside the hospital in my Brooklyn neighborhood" (shown below). The video gained over 22,700 likes and 15,300 retweets in 10 days.

On March 30th, Twitter user @MattGertz^[5] shared a screenshot of a tweet with the caption, "Here's Fox News contributor and Hannity regular Sara Carter flirting with covid trutherism last night" (shown below, left). The tweet received over 4,700 likes and 1,400 retweets in eight days. That same day, Twitter user @RealCandaceO^[8] tweeted, "Many journalists are upset that #FilmYourHospital is trending worldwide w/ citizens going into the ER rooms and revealing wait times in all of the #coronavirus “hot bed” cities. While I am not endorsing this--it clearly represents a complete breakdown in our trust w/ the media" (shown below, right). The tweet accumulated over 23,100 likes and 9,900 retweets in eight days.

The next day, Twitter user @davidalexweir^[6] responded to @RealCandaceO's tweet by saying, "I’m a conservative, a fan, and an ICU nurse in the Nashville area. My ICU is completely full of coronavirus patients on ventilators. We are also closed to any visitors. Although these hospitals may look empty on the outside we are inside working our asses off to save lives" (show below, left). On April 5th, Twitter user @22CenturyAssets^[7] followed up on his trending hashtag saying, "It did! And I am proud of what #FilmYourHospital has shown and that it allowed for more discussion about deception" (shown below, right). The Daily Beast,^[1] StayHipp^[2] and The Daily Dot.^[3]

Various Examples

Grand Strand Medical Center (Hospital)Myrtle Beach, SC #FilmYourHospital pic.twitter.com/h8mATfjXfY
— Cindy Hall (@KlingCindy) March 30, 2020

The hospital is in quarantine ready for Covid patients. People are not allowed to walk around willy nilly. That is why hallways are empty. That lady should not have been there and will have put her safety at risk. Disgraceful.
— CelticGibson (@celticgibson) March 27, 2020

My wife works at a hospital in NJ, and she could DM you quite a few pictures of extremelty sick people. Countless #’s of her Co-workers are now infected, and so are their loved ones. So while you’re off in fairy-land spreading whatever warped agenda this is, just know that…
— Barcheddy (@Barcheddy) March 30, 2020