The spread of the Coronavirus has also been responsible for the spreading of a global trend where know-it-alls who sit in front of their computers all day long offer advice, cures and wild conspiracy theories.
Watching the news on TV or laptop is frightening indeed. The numbers of cases by country and the death toll are unsettling. Some people are becoming desperate, and in times of despair people tend to believe anything that might give them a sliver of hope.
The myths about the way COVID-19 spreads and snake oil treatments suggested to treat the malady abound. Some are outrageous, others verge on the insane, but in the days when social media has become the public god for some, there are those who defy logic and believe them.
Here are 20 myths about Coronavirus that are misleading, to say the least.
1. Only the elderly are infected and if they are, they die
Even though most of the new virus casualties are older adults, Coronavirus does not discriminate based on age. Those who are actually succumbing are people with preexisting health conditions, such as asthma, lung infections or diabetes.
Since older people are more likely to have these chronic illnesses, the percentage of those who succumb to Coronavirus infection is, naturally, larger. Yet statistics show that young people, even children, have died too. There are also cases of elderly people who had been infected and have fully recovered.
2. Children cannot catch COVID-19
Children are not safe from COVID-19 because they are not immune. Especially little children that have not developed a full immune system yet. They can get infected, but the symptoms they experience tend to not be as severe.
3. Spraying chlorine on skin kills viruses
This is a dangerous myth. Applying chlorine directly on the body can cause skin damage and is very harmful if it enters the eyes or mouth. Alcohol and chlorine are wonderful for disinfecting surfaces, however.
4. COVID-19 is just like the flu
Indeed, the Coronavirus illness does have flu-like symptoms, such as fever, runny nose and cough, and both can lead to severe pneumonia. Yet COVID-19 is more virulent, with a mortality rate between about 1 percent and 3 percent. Also, we don’t know yet if it is seasonal, like the flu, petering out when the warmer weather approaches.
5. If you wear a mask you are protected
Professional face masks, worn tightly by doctors and medical staff, protect them against infection. However, the same does not apply to disposable masks worn haphazardly by people.
As these masks do not fit closely to the face, droplets can still enter the mouth and nose. At the same time, viral particles can penetrate directly through the material. So they only give a false sense of security, often making a person neglect other protective measures, such as washing their hands.
However, if a person suffers from a respiratory illness, they should wear a mask to help protect others from becoming infected.
6. Hand dryers kill the coronavirus
Hand dryers do not kill coronavirus because, as we all know, they are just hot air. Washing your hands well with soap and water after using the bathroom is the best way to protect yourself and others from the virus.
7. Coronavirus is a mutated form of the common cold
COVID-19 is one of of the family of coronaviruses, all of which have spiky proteins on their surface. Some of these viruses use humans as their primary host and cause the common cold.
8. Rinsing the nose with saline protects against coronavirus
There is no evidence that a saline nose rinse protects against respiratory infections. This technique might reduce the symptoms of acute upper respiratory tract infections, but scientists have not found that it can reduce the risk of infection.
9. You have to be with someone for ten minutes to catch the virus
The longer someone is in contact with an infected person, the greater the chances are of contracting the coronavirus. However, it is possible to become infected in less than ten minutes.
10. Cats and dogs spread coronavirus
There is little evidence so far that coronavirus can infect cats and dogs. In Hong Kong, a Pomeranian whose owner had COVID-19 became infected, but the dog did not display any symptoms.
Jonathan Ball, Professor of Molecular Virology at the University of Nottingham, in the United Kingdom, says: “We have to differentiate between real infection and just detecting the presence of the virus.
“I still think it’s questionable how relevant it is to the human outbreak, as most of the global outbreak has been driven by human-to-human transmission.”
11. Antibiotics kill coronavirus
Antibiotics only kill bacteria; they do not kill viruses.
12. Garlic protects against coronaviruses
Garlic indeed has antibiotic properties and is very good for your health. However, there is no evidence that it can protect people against COVID-19.
13. Home remedies can cure and protect against COVID-19
No home remedies can protect against COVID-19, including vitamin C, essential oils, warm wine, silver colloid, sesame oil, garlic, chamomile tea — or sipping water every 15 minutes.
14. You can protect yourself by gargling bleach
Gargling bleach is likely to kill you before the coronavirus. There are no circumstances in which gargling bleach — in any dilution — might benefit your health, since bleach is corrosive and can cause serious damage to your body.
15. Thermal scanners can diagnose coronavirus
Thermal scanners can detect whether someone has a fever. However, symptoms of COVID-19 can appear two to ten days after infection, which means that someone infected with the virus could have a normal temperature for a few days before a fever begins.
16. Parcels from China can spread coronavirus
From previous research into similar coronaviruses, including those that cause SARS and MERS and are similar to COVID-19, scientists believe that the virus cannot survive on letters or packages for an extended time.
Coronaviruses on surfaces are not likely to survive over the period of the days or weeks a parcel from China needs to reach a destination outside the country.
17. Coronavirus is the deadliest virus known to man
Although COVID-19 does appear to be more serious than the annual strains of influenza we experience every year, it is not the deadliest virus that people have faced. Others, such as Ebola, SARS and MERS, have exponentially higher mortality rates.
18. Coronavirus will die off when temperatures rise in the spring
Some viruses, such as the flu virus, do spread more easily in the colder months, but that does not mean that they stop entirely when conditions become milder. Since COVID-19 is a new coronavirus, scientists do not know how temperature changes will influence its behavior.
19. Flu and pneumonia vaccines protect against COVID-19
As COVID-19 is a new mutation and is different from other viruses, no existing vaccines protect against infection.
20. The virus originated in a laboratory in China
This is a common theory, justified by the fact that the outbreak appeared in China first and that there is a large virology laboratory in Wuhan, the city first affected. Some researchers also believe that COVID-19 may have jumped from pangolins to humans. Others think that the virus might have passed to humans from bats, which was the case for SARS.
At this point, it is unknown exactly where the virus sprang from, and only time will tell us its actual origins.
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