The world is currently experiencing a pandemic, something that most of us who are currently living have never experienced before. So it is understandable to be worried or even afraid in these unprecedented times. MAny people are unable to go to work now and as such have a lot of free time. Some people have taken it upon themselves to capitalize on peoples fear and spread false information. Most of this is done via social media, especially Whatsapp broadcasts.
Many of us by now have received at least one message with tips coming out of China to beat/treat the virus. Some of these are plain hilarious because they have no logic behind them, while some of them may even lead to dangerous outcomes if believed and followed.
The aim of this post is to highlight some of these myths and provide some explanation as to why they are false. The first part of this post will address specific myths shared in one of such whatsapp broadcasts.
The thick mucus in the throat stops airflow in airways, nasal chamber, etc. That is why people need ventilators.
The hallmark of the cough that is associated with coronavirus is a dry cough. This means no phlegm and no mucus. So this one is a lie. There is no thick mucus and so that can not cause any blockages. However, this virus causes damage to the lungs and this reduces the bodies capacity to maintain the oxygen levels required for normal functioning and so patients with corona virus may start to desaturate as the lung damage progresses, hence needing ventilators to help take over the work of the lungs and support their breathing.
Before the mucus enters the lungs, it stays in the throat for 3 days, if we can neutralize it there itself, it will save you.
This one is not very intelligent. Because if you’ve ever had a productive cough, you know that there’s no way you’d have mucus just sitting in your throat for three whole days. So is nothing to neutralize. I have also seen a different version which claims that the virus itself stays in the throat for a while and can be neutralized there also. Again, this is a lie because if the virus gets into your body, the chances that it will get into your blood stream and start making its way around your body.
To neutralize the threat in the throat, drink hot liquids regularly and drink as much hot water as possible. This will take the thick mucus into the stomach where gastric juices will destroy it.
We have already established that there is nothing sitting in your throat waiting to be neutralized, so if you decide to drink hot water, you will only end up scalding your throat. The interesting part is that a number of coronavirus patients have gastrointestinal symptoms. Which means the virus is affecting their gastrointestinal system (which includes the stomach) so if the gastric juices were indeed active against this virus, this wouldn’t be happening. So again this is not possible.
If you touch any metallic substance, the virus stays active on it for 9 hours.
I’m not sure what counts as a metallic substance, but the coronavirus has been found to stay active on surfaces.
The New England Journal of Medicine just published a study that tested how long the virus can remain stable on different kinds of surfaces within a controlled laboratory setting. They found that it was still detectable on copper for up to four hours, on cardboard for up to 24 hours, and on plastic and steel for up to 72 hours.
But it’s important to note that the amount of virus decreased rapidly over time on each of those surfaces. And so the risk of infection from touching them would probably decrease over time as well.
So it is a good idea to wipe down surfaces and door handles with disinfectant.
Do not eat or drink anything cold this month, including ice cream and cold soft drinks.
Some earlier reports made this coronavirus appear to be “just like the flu” so i believe some of these preventive measures are tailored towards preventing the common cold/flu. However there is no scientific evidence to support this.
So depriving yourself of ice cream or cold drinks in a bid to prevent coronavirus is just punishing yourself.
This coronavirus responsible for the current pandemic is a new virus and not enough is known about it yet. Everyday around the world, scientists are working very hard to keep abreast with all the new discoveries during this pandemic.
Organizations like the World Health Organization, Center for Disease Control have continued to release updates on this new virus as they become available. It is irresponsible to share false or unverified information as this can lead to harm.
We should all continue to do our part by maintaining good hand washing practice and minimizing social interactions.
