“Giving humans a little too much credit here.”
No, coronavirus was not developed in a lab in Las Vegas funded by Bill Gates.
Nor was George Soros in on the act, no matter how much some in the righteous right would have you believe the virus was created with the specific intent of ruining a certain national leader’s chances for reelection in November.
The myth that coronavirus was developed in a lab and weaponized for deliberate effect is, Syra Madad, senior director of the New York City Health System’s pathogens program Business Insider, giving humans a little too much credit. Coronavirus is both more complex and simple than that. It’s one of the things that, so far, has made it such a tough mystery to untangle.
Not so hard to entangle: The idea that you can get coronavirus from drinking Corona beer. It’s a novel theory, that, but — sadly — not true.
You can’t get coronavirus from your pet, at least not so far. The fact is, not a single case — not one — can be traced to a pet dog or cat, or even a bat. The experts say, only half-jokingly, that you’re more likely to give it to your pet than the other way round.
Nor did the coronavirus come from bat soup, though there is evidence to suggest that bats In China’s Hubei province may have played a role, as bats did — and continue to do so — in Ebola outbreaks in Africa.
Business Insider, The Guardian and other, more responsible media organizations have unwrapped some of the myths making the rounds — and in some case gaining traction — on social media.
The science is not yet in, not all of it anyway, but much of it is. Here goes.
There’s much we don’t know but based on the data so far, the fatality rate is 2%, far below genuinely deadly pathogens like Ebola and Marburg. The rate of critical condition is 18% to 20%, also low by deadly pathogen standards.
The 2% who do die are the sickest, and many are in hospitals already. Even those in hospital have a 98% chance of surviving. “It’s not a death sentence,” Madad told Business Insider, categorically.
Other myths: Wearing masks is less effective than many people seem to think. The problem is people who wear them usually don’t wear them properly. They’ve never been trained. In many cases they don’t even know what mask to wear.
You’re “unlikely” to get coronavirus from a package sent from China. “The form of transmission is obviously through droplet spread. So coming in contact with somebody that is sick with the coronavirus disease, close contact with them, or, you know, contact with their droplets right shortly after.”
Closing borders won’t help. Oddly, respiratory viruses don’t respect borders. Madad again: “It's not the fault of a government that this type of outbreak is starting or spreading. It's just the nature of the virus itself.
“Travel bans historically have proven not to be very effective. In fact, you know, it seems that it was the opposite. They caused more fear, make more chaos. People were reluctant to actually come forward with actually reporting that they had the illness.
“The federal government does state nonessential travel should be restricted, obviously, to mainland China. That's the epicentre, and that's where there's a lot of community transmission. But outside China, where you see there are two dozen countries that are actually reporting that they have coronavirus disease, if there’s no community transmission, there is, obviously, no risk to the general public.”
It’s only half true that coronavirus affects only older people. Older people, however, are more likely to have underlying, pre-existing conditions and health concerns.
Coronavirus is in the same family as SARS, but it is not SARS. SARS had a fatality rate of 10%, whereas coronavirus — so far — is tracking closer to 2%, as we’ve seen.
Coronavirus is different from SARS, though. It spreads more like the flu. There are more cases because it has spread so quickly that many more people can easily become infected. Large numbers of fatalities don’t mean necessarily that it's a lethal virus: It simply means more people have been getting it, and some of those infected do unfortunately die.
Another myth busted: Antibiotics won’t work. Viruses and bacteria are two different microbes. Antibiotics work for bacteria. Antiviral medications are used on viruses. There is no antiviral medication yet for coronavirus, but those in a position to know say there are a couple of experimental drugs in the development stage that are showing promise, but haven’t been being tested yet.
For reliable, updated information, it’s best to go to the World Health Organization’s website (www.who.int), and not the Daily Mail.
As we’ve seen in these past few hours and days — weeks, even — where pandemic meets panic and social media fuels the rumour mill, myths, urban tales and silly stories abound.
It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Facts are facts. And the facts are there. for anyone willing to take the time to look. Knowledge is power, always.
©Gerd Altmann-Pixabay