Find the catch: the biggest COVID-19 myths & conspiracy theories
By: Alphagreen Team
Tags: Cannabis, Cbd, Cannabis Medical, Covid 19

You’ve probably heard the news about British 5G towers being set on fire because of coronavirus. This theory claimed that the novel coronavirus originated in Wuhan was caused by 5G and then spread to other cities that are also using 5G. These false conspiracy theories neglected the fact that the coronavirus pandemic has hit counties such as Iran where 5G is not in use. Even though there is no scientific evidence associated with the coronavirus pandemic, some people began to burn the witches.

Sociologists have warned that along with struggling with an epidemic, we’re fighting an infodemic, loads of often invalid and inaccurate information. We’ve gathered all possible and surprising myths about COVID-19. Keep reading and be ready to get surprised.

The most common COVID-19 myths debunked

Radio and mobile networks can spread the virus.

Sounds like a great idea for a non-fiction, right? So let it be. In real life, this rumour is provoked by fear of invisible waves. Previously radio waves were thought to be harmful and able to cause diseases such as cancer. Radio waves contain the lowest frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum. They are even lower than UV waves from the sun. They are much safer than other kinds of waves and don’t have enough energy to damage DNA inside cells and cause cancer and harm health. As for the COVID-19, the disease can be transmitted via airborne droplets that can’t appear in radio waves. It is highly likely to get the virus via contact with an infected person or a contaminated surface. So turn on the radio and avoid hugs with a friend who coughs or sneezes.

Influenza vaccine and antibiotics may cure the coronavirus

COVID-19 and the flu are viral infections and have some similarities. Both diseases have similar symptoms, ranging from mild to severe. Both can cause pneumonia. SARS-CoV-2 virus and the flu virus can spread through person to person contact via tiny droplets and live on surfaces. However, the flu can be prevented through vaccination that won’t help in case of the novel disease. Influenza vaccine has its benefits, as it may prevent having both diseases at the same time. Existing vaccines, such as vaccines against pneumonia and Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) vaccine, can’t protect against the SARS-CoV-2. The virus is so unique that it requires its own vaccine.

Antibiotics also don’t work against viruses, only bacteria. Since SARS-CoV-2 is a virus, antibiotics should not be used for its prevention or treatment. However, antibiotics can be used if infected patients have bacterial co-infection.

So far, there is no vaccine available for the SARS-CoV-2. As the virus is new, developing safe and effective vaccines takes time. On the other hand, prior vaccination against influenza may prevent having both diseases at the same time.

Masks and gloves are the new black

Indeed, many brands have switched from Spring/Summer ’20 collections to branded masks. The future looks like a scene from the Mad Max with people covering their faces with masks. In spite of the cases of asymptomatic transmission, the World Health Organisation advises that those who have the symptoms of the disease or care for infected people should wear masks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people wear cloth face masks in public places if it is impossible to keep a 6-foot distance from others. This may help slow down the virus spread from asymptomatic people. The masks should also be saved for those who are on the front line, such as doctors and nurses. Wearing gloves doesn’t prevent the spread of the virus. They have pores and can become contaminated. Therefore, washing your hands with soap and water is the most effective preventative measure.

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Vitamins will help your immunity to skyrocket

Well, that is a controversial question. The body’s immune system is finely tuned and maintains the balance between effectively limiting the ability of bacteria, viruses, and parasites to cause infection and hyperactive responses that can cause autoinflammatory and autoimmune disorders. On the one hand, vitamins can help ward off diseases and some health conditions, but mostly, in malnourished people. As an example, randomised control studies in people, supplementing with vitamin D, have shown significantly decreased risk of respiratory infections in people deficient in this vitamin and reduced infection risk in those with adequate vitamin D levels. Vitamin C, the most popular supplement taken during flu season, has been shown to reduce the severity and duration of upper respiratory tract infections, such as the common cold.

On the other hand, no supplement is able to cure or prevent disease. It is important to mention that no supplement, or diet other than social distancing, and proper hygiene can protect from COVID-19. So far, there is no research supporting the use of any supplement as protection against COVID-19.

Hand sanitisers can protect against COVID-19

If you’ve been to a pharmacy lately, you probably saw the empty shelves where hand sanitisers are usually sat. Cheer up; there is no need to stockpile by all means. Indeed, sanitisers are a convenient way to clean your hands when you are outdoors or in a car and is much better than no measures at all. They’re also useful in the hospital setting, as help to prevent the transfer of viruses and bacteria between patients by hospital staff. The study published in Emerging Infectious Diseases has shown that alcohol-based hand sanitisers can effectively kill the novel coronavirus. However, it is right on some conditions: the use of sanitisers recommended by the World Health Organisation and rubbing the hands with sanitiser for 30 seconds. The WHO has recommended two formulas for sanitisers: the first one includes 80% ethanol, 1.45% glycerol, and 0.125% hydrogen peroxide; the second — (2) 75% 2-propanol, 1.45% glycerol, and 0.125% hydrogen peroxide.

However, using a sanitiser too often can keep your hands too clean. Over-sanitising of your hands can increase the risk of getting sick by not allowing the body to be exposed to germs and bacteria. By the way, hand dryers also do not kill the coronavirus. Soap and water remain more effective at removing specific types of germs. They are also better at preserving the “good” bacteria or flora on your hands.

COVID-19 can stay with you forever or kill you

Catching the coronavirus doesn’t mean you will have it for life or be dead soon. Most of the people who catch COVID-19 recover from it and get back to their life. Immunity from this disease is seen as likely, based on the behaviour of related coronaviruses, though cases of positive tests after recovery have also been reported. The alleviation of symptoms and supportive care are the primary treatment approaches. However, if you have cough, fever, and shortness of breath, you should seek medical care asap and contact your health facility. COVID-19 is deadly for a small percentage of people, such as for patients with coexisting health conditions. The report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in China has shown that up to 80.9% of COVID-19 cases were mild. The WHO has also reported that approximately 80% of people will experience a mild form of the novel disease, with no need for special treatment in a hospital.

You should avoid public transport

It is hard to believe this myth as public transport is, in most cases, unavoidable. The only thing you could do is to be aware and keep the personal distance. Try to avoid entering crowds and stay away from coughing and sneezing people.

There is evidence that the novel coronavirus can live on surfaces for several days.

Here is the information on how long the virus can live on potentially available on the transport surfaces:

metal (doorknobs, handles) — 5 days

glass (windows) — 5 days

plastics (seat handles and buttons) — from 2 to 3 days

copper (coins) — 4 hours

A healthy person can get the virus by touching the surface in transport and then touching his or her face. For that reason, as soon as you are back home, wash your hands with warm water and soap.

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Coronavirus is only dangerous for elderly people.

Unfortunately, it’s not true, which makes the virus even more tricky. The novel coronavirus can infect people of all ages. However, some people are at higher risk of infection than others:

People 65 years and older

People with accompanying health conditions, such as chronic lung diseases, severe heart conditions, immunocompromised conditions, obesity, diabetes, chronic kidney and liver diseases.

These are vulnerable groups, meaning that they get easily infected and suffer from the disease more, may have complications and require special care. There are also known cases of children and infants infected with COVID-19. Coronavirus can also infect pets and more exotic species such as tigers and lions, but these cases are rare. The transmission of the disease from human to animal is low; a small number of cases have been reported since the outbreak. According to the World Health Organisation, there is “no evidence that a dog, cat or any pet can transmit COVID-19.”

Therefore, WHO recommends people of all ages to take steps to take precautionary measures, such as proper hand and respiratory hygiene.

Spraying chlorine or alcohol on skin kills coronaviruses

The WHO and various health institutions disapproved of the rumours telling that spraying alcohol or chlorine over your body can kill COVID-19. Applying these or any other “bacteria-cleaning” substances can’t kill viruses within the body. COVID-19, just as many other respiratory viruses, infect people by entering through the nose, eyes or mouth. Therefore, spraying cleaning substances over the body can cause more harm than benefits. Cleaning substances can damage clothes and mucous membranes in eyes and mouth. People can use such chemicals to disinfect surfaces under appropriate recommendations, but it is a bad idea to use them on the skin.

Virus mutation is dangerous

Just like all viruses, SARS-CoV-2 mutates as it transfers from person to person. The term “mutation” means a change in a virus’ genetic code. Most mutations don’t actually change the virus functions. It’s a typical delusion that mutation makes the virus even more dangerous. Scientists hope that when the virus replicates, it can make mistakes. These errors would accumulate when the virus spreads from cell to cell and person to person. Due to multiple mistakes and infections, the virus can lose its potency and become ineffective in infecting humans.

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Moreover, people haven’t developed widespread immunity yet. The virus keeps encountering new hosts but doesn’t need to change to survive. It means that mutations that could modify the shape of the antigens, specific spots on a virus, are rare. If people get immunity to the dominant virus strain by fighting off the virus or with the help of vaccination, new versions of the virus with mutations are likely to spread.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus seems to be mutating slower than the seasonal flu, which gives scientists more time to develop a vaccine. The novel virus has a mutation rate of less than 25 mutations annually, while the seasonal flu has a mutation rate of up to 50 mutations per year.

A new vaccine is our only hope

This myth may offend scientists all over the world, working on alternative treatments. The vaccine is promoted in the media as a magic bullet. Scientists consider three major approaches to the vaccine:

build a whole virus vaccine, aiming to induce a prompt immune response of the body to a new infection;

create a vaccine with a focus on the S-spike protein that can sensitise the immune system to specific subunits of the virus;

develop a nucleic acid vaccine (DNA or RNA vaccines).

So far, no vaccine has completed clinical trials, though multiple vaccine candidates are in progress. To our luck, scientists consider more potential treatments:

Antiviral medications. Ongoing trials study the potential of the available on the market drugs, such as Remdesevir and Chloroquine, and their repurposing into AntiCovid medications. Various labs also create entirely new drugs for novel disease treatment.

Anti-cytokine drugs. The medications such as Tocilizumab and hydroxychloroquine may cause anti-cytokine storm properties, helping to alleviate the major coronavirus complication.

Passive antibodies. This approach means transferring purified and concentrated antibodies made by the immune systems of people recovered from COVID-19 to those who need them. This is a non-vaccine method of passive immunisation.

High temperatures can prevent the new coronavirus disease

If that were true, we could easily fight off the virus by enjoying bubbles in a hot bathtub. Unfortunately, it can bring only pleasure. The recent findings of the University of Aix-Marseille, in France, have shown that coronavirus can survive exposure to temperatures of up to 60°C for quite a long time. Therefore, standard measures used for disinfection in labs, such as heating to such a temperature for an hour, may be ineffective against COVID-19. Researchers have found that the virus can be killed by exposure to 92°C for a quarter of an hour.

The average body temperature is always in the range of 36.6 -37°C, regardless of the heat of the bath. Taking a bath with extremely hot water can be dangerous. The same concerns the weather temperature, as according to the scientific evidence the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted in all areas, including those with hot and humid weather. Cold water or weather are also pointless, as there is minimal reduction in virus concentration after 21 days at 4°C and -80°C in the lab conditions. Therefore, the best way to prevent COVID-19 is to frequently clean your hands and adopt other protective measures regardless of the area where you live.

Home remedies can prevent COVID-19

Garlic, a bottle of aged whiskey or salty water — whatever you have at home, it can’t prevent or treat the novel coronavirus. Alcohol consumption, especially frequent or excessive use can harm your health and increase your risk of further health problems.

Regular rinsing the nose with salty water can’t protect against the new coronavirus. Even though it can help people recover quicker from the cold, rinsing the nose with saline has not been proven to prevent respiratory infections.

Garlic has always been considered a healthy food with antimicrobial properties. However, no evidence shows that eating garlic may protect against the new coronavirus.

Any other home remedies such as silver colloid, burning sage, and sipping water every 15 minutes are also useless. Therefore, the best way is to follow the advice from the trusted sources, including the WHO recommendations: adopt a good handwashing regimen and avoid public places.

Can CBD & Cannabis improve the immune system?

You’d be surprised, but the rumours about cannabis as a magic cure for the novel coronavirus have started with a joke. Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri tweeted a screenshot that looked like a newscast. The post said ‘Breaking News: Weed kills coronavirus.’ Later, the screenshot turned out to be a meme. Given the hype around cannabis and its derivatives such as CBD, people believed the claims about its effect on coronavirus and began to share the post massively via social media. Unfortunately, these claims are a myth. There is no broad research on cannabis or CBD and coronavirus. Let’s not abandon hope too fast as cannabis has the potential to affect the immune system in a positive way, and benefit people fighting the novel disease.

Endocannabinoid system (ECS) & Cannabidiol (CBD)

ECS is an important body system. Its main role is to keep the body balance, which includes regulating the immune system. Cannabinoid receptors (CB1 and CB2), parts of ECS, are placed on immune cells, in the organs and tissues. In a healthy body, endocannabinoids, naturally produced cannabinoids interact with CB1 and CB2 receptors to maintain normal immune system functioning. Cannabinoids may suppress adverse immune cell activity, such as reducing inflammation that happens when immune cells respond to an injury.

Cannabidiol (CBD), one of the major active ingredients of Cannabis Sativa plants, is a cannabinoid that can interact with CB1 and CB2 receptors. CBD can replace the missing endocannabinoids, helping to restore the balance, and improve the regulation of the immune system. By taking over the function of endocannabinoids, CBD may slow the progression of some autoimmune diseases. Depending on the health condition, CBD products may cause both suppressive and stimulating effects on the immune system.

CBD’s suppressive effect

According to some research, cannabis can suppress our immune system, which makes it rather useful at decreasing inflammation. This effect can be a good or a bad thing depending on the health condition. When it comes to infections and viruses, inflammation plays an important role, helping to trap them and prevent them from spreading within the body. However, the inflammation can go out of control and harm the body. For people suffering from autoimmune diseases, where the immune system doesn’t work properly and attacks the healthy cells instead of the infected ones, CBD can reduce the strength of such symptoms. Autoimmune diseases include diabetes, fibromyalgia, HIV and other, all of which are hard to treat.

CBD’s stimulating effect

Studies suggest that CBD consumption can also make our immune system stronger, helping it to fight off infections. This is useful in case of patients that suffer from cancer or AIDS, where cannabidiol helps to alleviate symptoms and strengthen the response of the body to the disease. The study on humans with AIDS/HIV has shown that cannabis consumption led to stronger immune systems and a higher level of T cells that kill the HIV virus. The use of therapeutic doses of medical marijuana in immunocompromised people, such as in HIV-positive patients, have shown its immuno-enhancing properties.

Killing infected cells

According to the study on mice with cancer, cannabis may cause apoptosis, meaning it kills cancerogenous cells. CBD can also induce programmed cell death of innate immune cells, reducing the amount of lingering threat-responsive cells.

Regulatory adjustment

Another term for such a useful function is immunomodulation that acts as the regular immune response. Endocannabinoids can regulate the body’s homeostasis by amplifying or by attenuating the activity of the immune system, depending on the situation. CBD can influence cannabinoid receptors indirectly by modifying their response. Cannabidiol may also cause a more potent effect on the immune system than THC, as it tends to affect more intensively CB2 and less CB1 receptors.

CBD may regulate the overactive or ineffective immune responses, making them more effective and less harmful. Therefore, CBD is useful in controlling immune response with autoimmune diseases.

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A study of New York City’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine has shown that cannabinoids could prevent HIV from infecting the body’s immune system cells.

The study discovered that cannabinoids decreased the number of infected cells.

Therefore, the interaction between the endocannabinoid system and cannabis may have a significant impact on the immune system. On the cellular level, CBD may potentially strengthen the immune system.

What should you pay attention to?

CBD products are thought to be useful for immune system maintenance when taken regularly. However, there is also some evidence showing that CBD can compromise the immune system of a healthy person. In healthy people, cannabinoids may inhibit the activation of T-lymphocytes and lower the cellular immune response. This is considered as an impairment to fight viruses.

On the other hand, CBD may affect the immune functions differently, and if consumed in lower doses, can help the immune system overcome health challenges. There are many conditions in which cannabis and CBD interact with the immune cells, and these cases are dose-related. Therefore, proper dosing is of high importance. In any case, prior consultation with a doctor regarding cannabis use is highly recommended.

The most popular COVID-19 conspiracy theories

As the COVID-19 crisis develops and occupies our minds more and more, the world also confronts a global misinformation pandemic. Multiple conspiracy theories behave just like viruses as they spread online with the same speed as SARS-CoV-2 does offline. Here are some conspiracy theories being in the media spot.

Bill Gates is to blame

As of April 2020, conspiracy theories about Bill Gates gained the most attention in the media: according to the New York Times, they got up to 1.2 million mentions in the previous two months. Conspiracy theorists relied on two significant facts that caused suspicion. In 2015 Bill Gates gave a TED talk that warned of a highly dangerous worldwide pandemic that might happen in the following years. In his speech, Gates examined the Ebola outbreak that killed thousands of people, mentioned the factors that kept the disease from spreading all over the world, and cautioned against the potential for a much more contagious pandemic.

As the novel coronavirus pandemic has spread worldwide, Gates has pledged $250 million to fight the COVID-19 and develop a vaccine.

Considering that talk, and the Gates Foundation’s massive contribution to fight the disease, some conspiracy theorists have claimed that Gates is the mastermind who created the novel coronavirus. Gates and other powerful people are thought to use the coronavirus pandemic and the vaccine creation to create a global caste system with the use of a digital ID. Twitter followers have reacted with hashtag #BillGatesVaccine, claiming they won’t use this vaccine. Surprisingly, Bill Gates declined an interview with the New York Times on coronavirus-related Bill Gates conspiracy theories, and the only thing that he has said in response to the conspiracies in the GCTN interview is that “it’s ironic.”

The virus escaped from a lab in China

Among the most popular conspiracy theories is the idea that the COVID-19 pandemic happened due to a virus escaping from Chinese laboratories. Indeed, the Chinese city of Wuhan is considered the epicentre of the epidemic. The Wuhan Institute of Virology has currently fallen under suspicion due to studies of bat coronaviruses. Their scientists were evaluating the potential emergence of such a pandemic. The Fox News claimed that one of these scientists became a “zero” patient who spread the virus in the city. The idea originated from the documentary by the Epoch Times, a news outlet in the US with links to the Falung Gong religious cult, persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party. However, genetic sequencing has shown that the novel coronavirus did not match any of the virus samples from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

COVID-19 was also thought to be intentionally produced by Chinese scientists as a bioweapon. According to a Pew Research Center survey, up to three-in-ten Americans think that COVID-19 was created in a lab, either intentionally or accidentally. The theory of the Chinese origin of the virus is especially popular among US politicians. However, this speculation was debunked by the fact that SARS-CoV-2 is a zoonotic virus, which is seen from its molecular structure. The natural origin of the virus was also explained by a scientific analysis published in the Nature Medicine journal. Therefore, any laboratory-based scenario seems impossible.

The US bioweapon

On the contrary, the virus is also thought to have US origin. This theory relies on different facts, randomly mixed together. One fact involves the US biological research centre named Fort Detrick. In 2019 it was forced to close down due to failed safety procedures in handling pathogens. The fun fact is that Fort Detrick has been mentioned in many anti-US conspiracy theories since the times when the Soviet Union blamed the US for the possible development of the HIV virus. The thing is that the Fort Detrick closure happened due to insufficient systems to decontaminate wastewater. According to US regulators, it carried no threat to public health and caused no leaks of dangerous material.

The allegations also relied on the visit of the American soldiers to the World Military Games in Wuhan last year. They were thought to carry the virus. Mr Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China, promoted this conspiracy theory shared on Chinese social media when he tweeted that the US army could bring the epidemic to Wuhan. For China, this conspiracy theory could be useful for domestic propaganda, but the rest of the world didn’t believe it.

COVID-19 doesn’t exist

“As long as you keep your eyes closed it doesn’t exist” was one of the popular memes on Reddit. It could also be the motto of the coronavirus deniers. They are people who believe that the coronavirus outbreak news and death rates are bogus, and the media and politicians have fabricated the threat of COVID-19 disease.

PolitiFact, the US fact-checking organisation, has debunked a Facebook post flagged as part of Facebook’s campaign to fight false news and misinformation. The post claiming that “there is no virus” got more than 8,000 shares and caused an immediate effect.

In response, Facebook and other social media companies have started to remove or block misleading content, which included posts from people claiming the novel disease doesn’t exist. The followers of this theory refuse to keep social distancing and other preventative measures, which may potentially spread the epidemic further and raise the death rate. So far, there is sufficient evidence that the coronavirus is real and keeps infecting thousands of people all over the world every day. For that reason, coronavirus deniers are thought to be potentially life-threatening.

COVID-19 was created by pharmaceutical giants

The pharmaceutical industry has ever been among the most profitable ones. Big Pharma is thought to prosper our public health. Some older allegations included the total control of huge corporations of any new patents and constant consumption of smaller businesses to ensure their drugs will never enter the market. Moreover, Big Pharma is thought to focus on medicines that can be sold to wealthy consumers in developed countries, rather than drugs that may benefit the poorest ones. The rumours gain support from anti-vax and anti-GMO experts. Some of them are even banned from Google due to misinformation and claims that food supplements can treat or prevent COVID. NaturalNews is among the conspiracist sites, claiming that conventional drugs don’t work and big pharmaceutical companies have the intention to make us ill. The conspiracies against Big Pharma also adheres to the anti-vaccination approach.

Verified by a Healthcare Professional

Anastasiia Myronenko

Anastasiia Myronenko is a Medical Physicist actively practicing in one of the leading cancer centers in Kyiv, Ukraine. She received her master’s degree in Medical Physics at Karazin Kharkiv National University and completed Biological Physics internship at GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research, Germany. Anastasiia Myronenko specializes in radiation therapy and is a fellow of Ukrainian Association of Medical Physicists.

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