As the coronavirus outbreak carries on to wreak havoc around the world, giving rise to an unprecedented health crisis, experts warn about another threat: the fastest spread of misinformation and misconceptions. With the growing number of cases in many parts of the world, fact-checking organizations are finding a considerable amount of falsehoods about the pandemic in news, politics, organizations, and, last but not least social media! By far, social media apps are playing a huge role in laying out fake news; this is causing panic in public. People believe anything and everything that they see on social media without even authenticating it.
“We need a vaccine against misinformation,” said Mike Ryan, MD, the executive director of the health emergency program at the World Health Organization (WHO). He is not the only one in this opinion! There are hundreds of people who get paranoid after coming across such information, and why wouldn’t they be! Because of the delicate situation, the world is in right now. Believing anything that people see on the internet is kind of like an inherent trait in all of us, and we can’t help it. So, to subside this trait of believing any and everything we see on the internet today, we thought about taking a look at the misconceptions that spread like wildfire and misconceptions that people are blindly believing. But before we start talking about them, let’s first try to understand what the Covid-19 is and how deadly it can be.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. It was initially emerged in Wuhan, China. And now the cases are rising in countries like a bush fire! Patients suffering from this disease will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without special treatment. Older people are most likely to get severely affected by this disease as it attacks the lungs first. The best way to prevent and slow down the transmission of the virus is to get well-informed on all of the risks it brings with itself and to take the right precautions against them. Now without prolonging the intro any further, let us jump right into some of the most popular myths about Coronavirus that need to be debunked first hand during this pandemic.
Myth no.1: Getting Coronavirus is a Death Sentence
Well, we are very misinformed about this disease! Yes, it has affected thousands of people, but based on the data that is coming out daily, it seems to be a lenient type of viral infection. There are a 2% fatality rate and around 18% to 20% that may be in, sort of in the critical condition range. And that 2 % who die are already sick and have some respiratory or cardiovascular disease. Even those struggling and in hazardous conditions have probably a 98% chance of surviving this virus. So, it is not a death sentence by any means; it is still quite dangerous to avoid the precautions that the government suggests. But in all honesty, the virus mortality rate isn’t something to worry about for now.
Myth no.2: Only Chinese People have the Covid-19
It indeed started in China, but now the whole world is affected by it, and it is now everyone’s virus. It is a virus, so that means that it is going to spread and if we do not stop it by taking the proper precautions given by the world health organization, precautions like social distancing, sanitizing our hands and maintaining a healthy regime in quarantine then there’s no end to it. Infections and viruses like Coronavirus do not respect boundaries or borders, and so we all are in this, we should all fight together.
Myth no.3: Coronavirus is the Most Dangerous Virus
That’s not true at all! There are hundreds of different viruses out there that are deadlier than COVID-19. We have the Ebola virus disease, which has a much-inflated fatality rate correlated with it. People are recovering from Coronavirus pretty rapidly; the official count of recoveries is now 6,000 or more. But the thing is, we don’t report the recoveries when someone is discharged from the hospital. Sadly, we are not giving people actual numbers of recoveries, which might help people suffering from depression and anxiety during this pandemic.
Myth no.4: The Coronavirus originated from bat soup
This is just a myth and holds no value as we know about the current COVID-19 disease is that it started from Wuhan’s wet market, where there are hundreds of different animals. So, there are a few conjectures out there, but not from someone consuming bat soup. But what we do know is that this disease can be transmitted from person to person through close contact with them or their droplets right shortly after.
Myth no.5: Your pet can give you Coronavirus
This theory is entirely untrue. There are no cases reported regarding a pet transmitting this disease as of now. However, you are most likely to give to your pet than the other way around! But, it is necessary to take good care of your pets as they are vulnerable too. Make sure that you are keeping your pets clean and tidy at all times.
These are only a few myths/misconceptions debunked that we thought are most relevant, and we should address them to spread awareness. In times like this, we should be very responsible and considerate about the whole situation. It is not the time to fan out fake news; it is just going to make everything worse! Instead, to help out people and trust me, there are a lot of people who need us! Your little act of kindness can make a huge difference, and we are here to help you out! You can avail of our saving offers to get everything that you need, be it grocery, medicines, precautionary items, and much more. Save a bunch on your purchase and try to help others as well.
Author Bio
Amy Amelie is a loving mother of two a boy and a beautiful girl, over the years she has gained quite a lot of experience while managing those little whippersnappers. She is now writing to share her knowledge with other moms out there.