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The World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the coronavirus a pandemic on Wednesday, March 11. As the virus continues to spread, so does misinformation. There are multiple articles claiming to provide a cure to the virus, often advocating the use of malaria medication. A number of videos are also being circulated through social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp that cite unreliable sources and promote dangerous behavior, like drinking bleach to kill the bacteria. Anthony Santella, a professor of public health and public health scientist, is particularly interested in emerging diseases like the coronavirus and is well-versed in the factual information currently available to us. The following are some of the myths surrounding the coronavirus:

1.     The coronavirus outbreak started because someone ate a bat.

“Bats do have these super-human superman kind of immune systems, and viruses, parasites and other kind of pathogens that would normally do a lot of damage to even other animals and people, their immune systems are able to kind of fight off. So, we’re pretty confident that the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, does originate in bats, and for a number of years, bats were basically infecting other bats. Some people do think it went directly from bats to people. Some people think there was kind of an intermediary animal, particularly the pangolins, which are scaly anteaters that are pretty common in Asia and Africa. What most likely happened is that a person or group of people were exposed to one, or both of these animals in these wet animal markets in Wuhan, and whether they had exposure to the animal for culinary or medicinal purposes, no one really knows. But all you need is someone getting exposed to an animal that harbors the virus and then rubbing their eyes, scratching [their] nose, biting their fingernail [or] eating something without washing their hands, to start it. So, this is a zoonotic illness that did originate in animals and most likely [in] the bat. But whether it was exposure to the bat for culinary or medicinal purposes, we wouldn’t really know who the patient zero was. And, it’s not really for us to judge.”

2.     It’s OK to go outside as long as I wear a face mask.

“There’s different degrees to how [well] face masks work. Everything from the do-it-yourself handkerchief to using a scarf offers some level of protection, but it is nothing [compared] to the N95 mask. Masks can still prevent some particles from coming in, but [they] also help prevent us from touching our face[s] … the statistics I read say that we touch our faces about 20 times an hour. So, at this point, people should really only be going out if they need essential services like groceries or medicine or maybe for some exercise if it doesn’t mean being around people outside of their household. I understand why they [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)] were kind of reserved, hesitant to change the [face mask] guidance because now some people think ‘Well … I have a surgical mask now, I can go about and do whatever I please,’ but no, you can’t. So, that’s [a reason] to consider physical distancing. [Just] because [the] CDC now recommends people wear a mask, that doesn’t mean we should be going out, we should be doing the same behaviors under the stay-at-home orders, which really is reserved for essential services and sunlight exercise that doesn’t involve people outside your household. That’s just an extra layer of some level of protection. And certainly, these DIY masks are nothing in comparison to what a N95 provides.”

3.     If you’re young and in good health, you can’t catch the virus.

“Part of what makes this interesting, from a science perspective, is that the science is still evolving, so no one can tell you with certainty [that] we only need to focus on the elderly and people with compromised immune systems. We know that anyone from the newborn to the 100-year-old has some level of risk. That risk definitely differs based on who you are [and] how strong your immune system is. One of the issues is how often you’re exposed to the virus, which is why we’re seeing a lot of healthcare workers and essential workers who are constantly being exposed getting sick, because they’re around the virus a lot. There is no way to predict how your body will react.”

4.     Everyone with the virus shows symptoms.

“On average, it takes people about five days for the onset of symptoms to come up. We also know that the initial first few days after someone [becomes] infected, is the most infectious period, and that’s a bad combination. Now, you have people who are asymptomatic and potentially exposing other people to it because they feel fine. So that’s why we have these stay-at-home, kind of quarantine orders. And that’s just from the people we know who have been tested. There are hundreds and thousands of people who will never get tested because they had fairly minor symptoms, like a low-grade fever, so, that still makes them just as infectious. Some might think it’s something else, which makes sense because, it is cold, flu and allergy season. You can’t just look at someone and say, ‘Oh, they have coronavirus,’ because the symptoms between cold, flu, coronavirus and allergies overlap a lot. That is why the best step is to call a [health care] provider and document what is happening with you.”

5.     The coronavirus can be treated like the flu.

“That won’t be the case for some people. Some people, they’ll have the dry cough, … sore throat and sniffles and they’ll treat it with over-the-counter medications, just like they would if [they had] something else. It’s important to document it with your provider, in case things change. We also know that it has been kind of touted that 80% of people will have mild symptoms, but out of that 80%, about 40% are going to have moderate pneumonia, which you can recover from, but that takes an average of three to six weeks.”

Santella will be hosting free webinars twice weekly for the remainder of April, aimed at informing kids and teens about the current pandemic and the science behind viruses. The webinar initially started as a family project and eventually made its way to social media. One version of the webinar is for grades K-6, and the other is for grades 7-12. Approximately an hour long, the webinar covers topics such as: what a virus is, how they work and what the coronavirus is. It also delves into the mental health aspect associated with the virus, as well as the general uncertainty the virus brings. Those interested can register here.