Corona Myths, Busted

It’s hard to know what’s true and what’s fake news. Dr Dawn Harper helps us decipher the fact from the fiction

- Dr Dawn Harper

Confused about things you see on social media relating to COVID-19? It’s not surprising, given there are several email and Facebook posts doing the rounds, explains Dr DawnHarper. ‘These usually claim to be from a doctor relative of a friend of a friend,’ she says. ‘This of course gives credence to the content, but most of what I have seen contains fake news, which could mean people believing they are safe and protected when they are not.’

Here, Dr Dawn takes a look at the ‘facts’ being spread around...

If you can hold your breath for 10 seconds, you don’t have coronavirus

FALSE

Increasingly, we think that some people may have the infection with no symptoms at all but could still spread the infection to others.

The holding-breath myth is probably based on a test called the Roth (eight second) test, which doctors used to use when assessing patients by telephone.

We asked the patient to take a deep breath and then count to 30 as fast as they could, and we timed how long it took them to need to take a breath. If the patient took a breath in less than eight seconds, that suggested they had below normal oxygen levels in their system.

Drinking water every 15 minutes will flush the virus down into the stomach and stop it getting into your lungs

FALSE

I’m not sure where the basis for this myth lies, other than, even a mild fever can lead to significant excess loss of fluid in sweat, so drinking plenty of fluids is important for anyone with a temperature.

The virus is killed at temperatures over 27 degrees, so drinking regular hot drinks will protect you from infection

FALSE