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COVID-19 has infected the whole world.

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Every one should wear a mask

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NBA suspends season

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BREAKING: NBA suspends season after Rudy Gobert tests positive for coronavirus | CBS Sports HQ

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Covid-19 does not have hands and feet, only humans can transport the virus by touching another person or touching something that someone with the virus touched.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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COVID-19 is a new disease and we are still learning how it spreads, the severity of illness it causes, and to what extent it may spread in the United States.

How COVID-19 Spreads

Person-to-person spread

The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person.

Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).

Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.

Can someone spread the virus without being sick?

People are thought to be most contagious when they are most symptomatic (the sickest).

Some spread might be possible before people show symptoms; there have been reports of this occurring with this new coronavirus, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.

Spread from contact with contaminated surfaces or objects

It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.

How easily the virus spreads

How easily a virus spreads from person-to-person can vary. Some viruses are highly contagious (spread easily), like measles, while other viruses do not spread as easily. Another factor is whether the spread is sustained, spreading continually without stopping.

The virus that causes COVID-19 seems to be spreading easily and sustainably in the community ("community spread") in some affected geographic areas.

Community spread means people have been infected with the virus in an area, including some who are not sure how or where they became infected.

International Areas with Sustained (Ongoing) Transmission
Last updated February 28, 2020

Related Links

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how is coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) spread

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transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19)

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COVID-19 is a new disease and we are still learning how it spreads, the severity of illness it causes, and to what extent it may spread in the United States. The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person. Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).

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Cannot be transmitted through goods manufactured in China.

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Health experts have urged the public to be mindful of where they get information in relation to facts about Covid-19.

Most are circulated in good faith listing advice from so-called experts ....but the barrage of tweets, texts and emails offer few facts.

Amongst the most common myths being spread around the globe is the advice to drink water at least every 15 minutes so if the virus enters your mouth the liquid will wash it into the stomach where acids will kill it. Not true.

Regularly rinsing your nose with saline is another "tip" being circulated to help prevent infection....... along with eating garlic. Again not true.

And there are lots of variations of false advice on to use heat to kill the virus including using hairdryers and drinking hot water. None of these are true.

Experts are also warning against using homemade hand sanitisers. Alcohol content must be at least 60% and getting the ratio of components correct can be difficult.

Many are more suitable for cleaning surfaces and could be harmful to your skin.

The WHO has dedicated a page to separating fact from fiction.

It says cold weather and snow will not kill the virus.

And on the other extreme taking a hot bath won't prevent it either.

It cannot be transmitted through goods manufactured in China or any country reporting COVID-19 cases.

And the WHO says it cannot be transmitted through mosquito bites.

Another fact is washing hands does help prevent the spread.

To get reliable information people are being advised to check the HSE website.

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Health experts have urged the public to be mindful of where they get information in relation to facts about Covid-19. Most are circulated in good faith listing advice from so-called experts ....but the barrage of tweets, texts and emails offer few facts.

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Face masks don't protect you from the virus.

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(Image credit: blackCAT/Getty Images)

As the novel coronavirus continues to infect people around the world, news articles and social media posts about the outbreak continue to spread online. Unfortunately, this relentless flood of information can make it difficult to separate fact from fiction - and during a viral outbreak, rumors and misinformation can be dangerous.

Here at Live Science, we've compiled a list of the most pervasive myths about the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, the disease it causes, and explained why these rumors are misleading, or just plain wrong.

Myth: The virus is just a mutated form of the common cold

No, it's not. Coronavirus is a large family of viruses that includes many different diseases. SARS-CoV-2 does share similarities with other coronaviruses, four of which can cause the common cold. All five viruses have spiky projections on their surfaces and utilize so-called spike proteins to infect host cells. However, the four cold coronaviruses - named 229E, NL63, OC43 and HKU1 - all utilize humans as their primary hosts. SARS-CoV-2 shares about 90% of its genetic material with coronaviruses that infect bats, which suggests that the virus originated in bats and later hopped to humans.

Evidence suggests that the virus passed through an intermediate animal before infecting humans. Similarly, the SARS virus jumped from bats to civets (small, nocturnal mammals) on its way into people, whereas MERS infected camels before spreading to humans.

Myth: The virus was probably made in a lab

No evidence suggests that the virus is man-made. SARS-CoV-2 closely resembles two other coronaviruses that have triggered outbreaks in recent decades, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, and all three viruses seem to have originated in bats. In short, the characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 fall in line with what we know about other naturally occurring coronaviruses that made the jump from animals to people.

A study published March 17 in the journal Nature Medicine also provided strong evidence against the "engineered in a lab" idea. The study found that a key part of SARS-CoV-2, known as the spike protein, would almost certainly have emerged in nature and not as a lab creation, Live Science previously reported. What's more, if scientists were trying to use computer models to engineer a deadly virus based on the original SARS virus, they likely would not have chosen the mutations that actually appear in SARS-CoV-2. That's because computer simulations show that mutations in SARS-CoV-2 don't seem to work very well at helping the virus bind to human cells, Live Science previously reported. But it turns out, nature is smarter than scientists, and the novel coronavirus found a way to mutate that was better - and completely different- from anything scientists could have predicted or created, the study found.

Although pets may contract COVID-19 in rare cases, there is no evidence they can spread it to people.

There have been a few reports of cats and dogs that became infected with COVID-19 after contact with their sick owner. For example, in April, two pet cats in New York tested positive for COVID-19, and the owner of one of these cats was confirmed to have COVID-19 before the cat showed symptoms, Live Science previously reported.

Even if pets do occasionally become infected, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says there is no evidence that they are playing a significant role in the spread of the virus. And so far, there have been no confirmed reports of people contracting the disease from pets.

Just in case, the CDC recommends that people with COVID-19 have someone else walk and care for their companion animals while they are sick. And people should always wash their hands after snuggling with animals anyway, as companion pets can spread other diseases to people, according to the CDC.

Children can definitely catch COVID-19, although reports of serious illness in children are rare.

A of more than 1.3 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. from January through May found that the rate of confirmed infections in children under age 9 was 52 cases per 100,000 people in that population of children; that's compared with an average of 400 cases (of any age) per 100,000 people in the U.S. population as a whole.

Another found that among 52,000 reported COVID-19 deaths from February through May, just 16 deaths were reported in people under age 18.

Still, not all children are spared from COVID-19. In rare cases, children with a current or previous COVID-19 infection have developed so-called multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). Symptoms of this syndrome can vary, but patients seem to have symptoms similar to those found in two rare conditions: toxic shock syndrome and Kawasaki disease, Live Science previously reported. Toxic shock syndrome is a life-threatening condition that's caused by toxins produced by certain types of bacteria; Kawasaki disease is a childhood illness that causes inflammation in blood vessel walls, and in serious cases can cause heart damage.

In a study published June 29 in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers described 186 cases of MIS-C in 26 states. Of these, nearly 90% required hospitalization, 80% were admitted to the intensive care unit and 2% died, the authors reported.

No, you won't. COVID-19 causes a wide range of symptoms, many of which appear in other respiratory illnesses such as the flu and the common cold. Specifically, common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, headache, sore throat, muscle or body aches, difficulty breathing, nausea and vomiting. In severe cases, the disease can progress into a serious pneumonia-like illness - but early on, infected people may show no symptoms at all.

And some people never develop symptoms. Exactly how common asymptomatic cases are is still being determined, although the CDC estimates it may be around 40% of cases.

If you have underlying conditions and milder symptoms of the disease, you should seek medical attention at the nearest hospital, experts told Live Science.

Though the death rate for COVID-19 is unclear, almost all credible research suggests it is much higher than that of the seasonal flu, which has a death rate of around 0.1% in the U.S., Live Science previously reported.

Among reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S., about 4% have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. This is what's known as the case fatality rate, which is determined by dividing the number of deaths by the total number of confirmed cases. But the case fatality rate is limited for a few reasons. First, not everyone with COVID-19 is being diagnosed with the disease - this is in part due to testing limitations in the U.S. and the fact that people who experience mild or moderate symptoms may not seek out testing. As the number of confirmed cases goes up, the fatality rate may decrease.

Many studies estimate that around 0.5% to 1% of people infected with COVID-19 will die from the disease, according to Nature News (opens in new tab). Even a death rate around 1% is still 10 times higher than that of the flu.

It's also important to note that estimates of flu illnesses and deaths from the CDC are just that - estimates (which make certain assumptions) rather than raw numbers. (The CDC does not know the exact number of people who become sick with or die from the flu each year in the U.S. Rather, this number is estimated based on data collected on flu hospitalizations through surveillance in 13 states.) Researchers emphasized this point in a recent paper published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, describing how they found that, in the U.S., there were 20 times more deaths per week from COVID-19 than from the flu in the deadliest week of an average influenza season, Live Science previously reported.

Myth: Vitamin C supplements will stop you from catching COVID-19

Researchers have yet to find any evidence that vitamin C supplements can render people immune to COVID-19 infection. In fact, for most people, taking extra vitamin C does not even ward off the common cold, though it may shorten the duration of a cold if you catch one.

That said, serves essential roles in the human body and supports normal immune function. As an antioxidant, the vitamin neutralizes charged particles called free radicals that can damage tissues in the body. It also helps the body synthesize hormones, build collagen and seal off vulnerable connective tissue against pathogens.

So yes, vitamin C should absolutely be included in your daily diet if you want to maintain a healthy immune system. But megadosing on supplements is unlikely to lower your risk of catching COVID-19, and may at most give you a "modest" advantage against the virus, should you become infected. No evidence suggests that other so-called immune-boosting supplements - such as zinc, green tea or echinacea - help to prevent COVID-19, either.

Be wary of products being advertised as treatments or cures for the new coronavirus. Since the COVID-19 outbreak began in the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have already issued warning letters to seven companies for selling fraudulent products that promise to cure, treat or prevent the viral infection.

Myth: It's not safe to receive a package from China

It is safe to receive letters or packages from China, according to the World Health Organization. Previous research has found that coronaviruses don't survive long on objects such as letters and packages. Based on what we know about similar coronaviruses such as MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, experts think this new coronavirus likely survives poorly on surfaces.

A past study found that these related coronaviruses can stay on surfaces such as metal, glass or plastic for as long as nine days, according to a study published Feb. 6 in The Journal of Hospital Infection. But the surfaces present in packaging are not ideal for the virus to survive.

For a virus to remain viable, it needs a combination of specific environmental conditions such as temperature, lack of UV exposure and humidity - a combination you won't get in shipping packages, according to Dr. Amesh A. Adalja, Senior Scholar, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, who spoke with Live Science's sister site Tom's Hardware.

And so "there is likely very low risk of spread from products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient temperatures," according to the CDC. "Currently, there is no evidence to support transmission of COVID-19 associated with imported goods, and there have not been any cases of COVID-19 in the United States associated with imported goods." Rather, the coronavirus is thought to be most commonly spread through respiratory droplets.

No, you can't. By that logic, you'd also have to avoid Italian, Korean, Japanese and Iranian restaurants, given that those countries have also been facing an outbreak. The new coronavirus doesn't just affect people of Chinese descent.

Myth: Drinking bleach or other disinfectants can protect you from COVID-19

You absolutely should not drink bleach or other household disinfectants, and you should also not spray them on your body. These substances are poisonous if ingested, and they can also cause damage to the skin and eyes, according to the World Health Organization.

When ingested, sodium hypochlorite (household bleach) can cause what is called "liquefactive necrosis," or a process that results in the transformation of tissue into a liquid viscous mass, Live Science previously reported. The bleach can also damage cells as the sodium reacts with proteins and fats in a person's tissues in a process called saponification (soap), medical doctors reported in 2018 in a publication by the Emergency Medicine Residents' Association.

Alarmingly, nearly 4 in 10 American adults in a recent survey reported engaging in dangerous cleaning practices to prevent COVID-19, such as washing food with bleach, using household disinfecting products on their skin or intentionally inhaling vapors from cleaning products, Live Science previously reported.

Myth: Drinking alcohol and eating garlic can protect you from COVID-19

Consuming certain foods, such as alcohol or garlic, will not protect you from the new coronavirus. Although alcohol-based hand sanitizers work to disinfect your skin, alcohol does not have this effect on your body when it is ingested, according to WHO. Indeed, heavy use of alcohol can actually weaken your immune system and reduce your body's ability to cope with infectious diseases. And although garlic may have some antimicrobial properties, there is no evidence that it can protect against COVID-19, WHO says.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, cannot travel on or transmit through radio waves or mobile networks such as 5G networks, according to WHO. The new coronavirus is spread mainly through respiratory droplets that are expelled when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks, as well as through contaminated surfaces. WHO also notes that COVID-19 has been spreading in countries that do not have 5G mobile networks.

Myth: Exposure to high temperatures prevents COVID-19

Exposing yourself to the sun or warm temperatures will not protect you against COVID-19, according to WHO. You can still catch the disease no matter how hot it is - indeed, the virus is spreading even in areas with very hot weather, such as Arizona. Taking a hot bath will also not prevent COVID-19, WHO says.

Myth: Wearing masks can cause CO2 poisoning

(Image credit: Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science)

(opens in new tab)

Wearing medical masks for long periods may be uncomfortable for some, but it does not cause oxygen deficiency or carbon dioxide (CO2) intoxication (when too much CO2 builds up in the bloodstream), according to WHO. The same applies for N95 masks and cloth face coverings, according to Healthline.

"Rebreathing tiny amounts of CO2 from wearing either properly fitted N95 respirators or more loosely fitted cloth or surgical masks is of no concern for the vast, vast majority of people," Darrell Spurlock Jr., the director of the Leadership Center for Nursing Education Research at Widener University in Pennsylvania, told Healthline. "The 'dose' of CO2 we might rebreathe while masking is quickly and easily eliminated by both the respiratory and metabolic systems in the body."

When you wear a mask, you should make sure it has a snug fit but allows you to breathe normally, WHO says.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflected updated knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 transmission in children.
Tia Ghose, Yasemin Saplakoglu, Nicoletta Lanese, Rachael Rettner and Jeanna Bryner contributed to this article. Originally published on Live Science.

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(Image credit: blackCAT/Getty Images) As the novel coronavirus continues to infect people around the world, news articles and social media posts about the outbreak continue to spread online. Unfortunately, this relentless flood of information can make it difficult to separate fact from fiction - and during a viral outbreak, rumors and misinformation can be dangerous.

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Everyone who gets infected with SARS-CoV-2 will die or conversely, only elderly, sick people will die.

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There is no vaccine for the new coronavirus right now.

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Infectious Diseases

Featured Experts:

Updated September 21, 2021

A lot of information is circulating about COVID-19, so it's important to know what's true and what's not.

Lisa Maragakis, M.D., M.P.H., senior director of infection prevention, and Gabor Kelen, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response, answer your questions.

TRUE or FALSE? A negative COVID test means you are safe.
The answer is false.
If you get a COVID-19 test and the result is negative, that means you probably were not infected at the time your sample was collected. But if you get tested too soon after exposure to the coronavirus, it could be too early for signs of infection to show up on the test. Also, testing negative for the coronavirus now does not mean you cannot become infected in the future or that you are immune from getting COVID-19.

TRUE or FALSE? Quercetin, essential oils and other supplements can protect you from the coronavirus or treat COVID-19.

The answer is false.

Taking quercetin, zinc, or vitamin D and other nutritional supplements cannot prevent or treat coronavirus infection or COVID-19. The same is true of essential oils - they are not effective to prevent coronavirus disease. The best ways to stay safe from COVID-19 are getting vaccinated, wearing a mask (especially in crowded or indoor settings), keeping your hands clean and practicing physical distancing.

TRUE or FALSE? Herd immunity will end the coronavirus pandemic, so vaccinations are not necessary.
The answer is false.
Herd immunity is a term that refers to cases of an infectious disease slowing down and stopping when enough people in a population have immunity, either from getting and surviving a disease or from being vaccinated.

For COVID-19, letting people get the disease would result in many people getting severely sick, suffering lasting organ damage and even dying before herd immunity could occur.

Being vaccinated for COVID-19 drastically reduces your chance of having severe COVID-19 if you are exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease. Immunity from the vaccine may last longer than immunity from having COVID-19. Also, vaccination reduces the number of infections that give the coronavirus an opportunity to mutate (change). Mutations (variants) of the virus (such as the contagious delta variant) can delay or even prevent herd immunity from being reached.

TRUE or FALSE? Ivermectin cures or prevents COVID-19.
The answer is false.
Ivermectin is a medicine that controls parasites in animals and humans. Irresponsible and misleading reports are circulating in social media and elsewhere that taking the drug is a safe way to prevent or cure COVID-19. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not authorized or approved the use of ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19. The FDA has received reports of humans taking veterinary ivermectin. The formulas for horses and other animals are different than for people and can be very toxic (poisonous) to humans. Taking ivermectin for nonapproved reasons or in large doses can be harmful, and can lead to hospitalization and even death.

TRUE or FALSE? Warm water or saline will protect you from getting sick if you're exposed to the coronavirus.
The answer is false.
False reports are circulating that drinking or bathing in warm or hot water, or washing out the inside of your nose with saline (salt) solution, will protect you from COVID-19 if you are exposed to the coronavirus. These reports are not true. The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is very tiny and cannot be rinsed or washed out of the throat or nasal passages. The best ways to prevent infection are to get vaccinated, wear a mask, and practice hand hygiene and physical distancing.

TRUE or FALSE? Children can get COVID-19.
The answer is true.
Children can get COVID-19. In most cases, COVID-19 seems to be milder in young children than in adults, but parents and caregivers should understand that children can be infected with the coronavirus and transmit it to others.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends a COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 and older. Johns Hopkins Medicine encourages all families to have eligible children vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine. Currently, Pfizer's vaccine is the only approved COVID-19 vaccine for children.

COVID-19 cases in children are increasing. This is partly because the available COVID-19 vaccines have only been recently authorized for children age 5 -11. The widespread circulation in the U.S. of the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus is another factor.

In rare cases, children infected with the coronavirus can develop a serious lung infection and become very sick with COVID-19, and deaths have occurred. That's why it is important to follow proven COVID-19 precautions such as wearing a mask when in public, indoor places to reduce the chance of becoming infected with the coronavirus. We can help protect children who are too young to be vaccinated by ensuring that all of the eligible people around them get vaccinated.

TRUE or FALSE? You can get a face mask exemption card so you don't need to wear a mask.
The answer is false.
Fake cards and flyers claiming that the bearers are exempt from mask-wearing regulations have shown up in some areas. The cards, which some people have bought online, may have official-looking logos or government insignias. They claim that people carrying them have a physical or mental condition covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that makes them unable to wear a face mask or covering.

The US. Department of Justice issued a statement about these fake mask exemptions, explaining that the cards and flyers are fraudulent.

People have tried to use the fake cards to avoid wearing a mask in public places that require them, such as some stores and restaurants. The cards are not issued by the U.S. government and are not backed by the ADA.

TRUE or FALSE? You can protect yourself from COVID-19 by injecting, swallowing, bathing in or rubbing onto your body bleach, disinfectants or rubbing alcohols.
The answer is false.
These products are highly toxic and should never be swallowed or injected into the body. Call 911 if this occurs.

Disinfectants, bleach, and soap and water may be used to clean surfaces, an important step in stopping the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Never attempt to self-treat or prevent COVID-19 by rubbing or bathing anywhere on your body with bleach, disinfectants or rubbing alcohol. Effective hand sanitizers do contain alcohol, but they are formulated to be safe for use on hands.
Learn more about protecting yourself from the coronavirus and COVID-19.
TRUE or FALSE? A vaccine to prevent COVID-19 is available.
The answer is true.
COVID-19 vaccines have been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and one has received full FDA approval. Johns Hopkins Medicine views all FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines as highly effective at preventing serious disease, hospitalization and death from COVID-19.

Learn more about COVID-19 vaccine safety and what you need to know about the COVID-19 vaccines.

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

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To help you better understand what's happening and cut through the confusion, here are some common myths.

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COVID-19 virus can be transmitted in areas with hot and humid climates.

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FACT: Hand sanitizers can be used often

An alcohol-based sanitizer does not create antibiotic resistance. Unlike other antiseptics and antibiotics, pathogens (harmful germs) do not seem to develop resistance to alcohol-based sanitizers.

FACT: Alcohol-based sanitizers are safe for everyone to use

Alcohols in the sanitizers have not been shown to create any relevant health issues. Little alcohol is absorbed into the skin, and most products contain an emollient to reduce skin dryness. Allergic contact dermatitis and bleaching of hand hair due to alcohol are very rare adverse effects. Accidental swallowing and intoxication have been described in rare cases.

FACT: Alcohol-based sanitizers can be used in religions where alcohol is prohibited

Any manufactured substance developed to alleviate illness or contribute to better health is permitted by the Qur'an, including alcohol used as a medical agent.

FACT: The amount of alcohol-based sanitizer you use matters

Apply a palmful of alcohol-based sanitizer to cover all surfaces of your hands. Rub your hands together using the right technique until they are dry.

The entire procedure should last 20-30 seconds.

FACT: Vitamin and mineral supplements cannot cure COVID-19

Micronutrients, such as vitamins D and C and zinc, are critical for a well-functioning immune system and play a vital role in promoting health and nutritional well-being. There is currently no guidance on the use of micronutrient supplements as a treatment of COVID-19.

WHO is coordinating efforts to develop and evaluate medicines to treat COVID-19.

Is dexamethasone a treatment for all COVID-19 patients?

Dexamethasone should be reserved for patients who need it most. It should not be stockpiled.

It provided no improvement for patients with mild symptoms. Dexamethasone is a corticosteroid used for its anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects. For some COVID-19 patients on ventilators, a daily 6 mg dose of dexamethasone for 10 days improved their health

Fact: Water or swimming does not transmit the COVID-19 virus

The COVID-19 virus does not transmit through water while swimming. However, the virus spreads between people when someone has close contact with an infected person.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Avoid crowds and maintain at least a 1-metre distance from others, even when you are swimming or at swimming areas. Wear a mask when you're not in the water and you can't stay distant. Clean your hands frequently, cover a cough or sneeze with a tissue or bent elbow, and stay home if you're unwell.

FACT: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is caused by a virus, NOT by bacteria

The virus that causes COVID-19 is in a family of viruses called Coronaviridae. Antibiotics do not work against viruses.

Some people who become ill with COVID-19 can also develop a bacterial infection as a complication. In this case, antibiotics may be recommended by a health care provider.

There is currently no licensed medication to cure COVID-19. If you have symptoms, call your health care provider or COVID-19 hotline for assistance.

FACT: Spraying and introducing bleach or another disinfectant into your body WILL NOT protect you against COVID-19 and can be dangerous

Do not under any circumstance spray or introduce bleach or any other disinfectant into your body. These substances can be poisonous if ingested and cause irritation and damage to your skin and eyes.

Bleach and disinfectant should be used carefully to disinfect surfaces only. Remember to keep chlorine (bleach) and other disinfectants out of reach of children.

FACT: Antibiotics CANNOT prevent or treat COVID-19

Antibiotics work only against bacteria, not viruses.

COVID-19 is caused by a virus, and therefore antibiotics should not be used for prevention or treatment.

Some people who become ill with COVID-19 can also develop a bacterial infection as a complication. In this case, antibiotics may be recommended by a health care provider.

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COVID-19 Mythbusters - World Health Organization

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Highlighting some of the misinformation circulating on COVID-19

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Any cough-based illness is COVID-19.

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washing your hands lets corona virus infect you more

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Justin Trudeau self-isolates himself and his wife as Sophie gets fever and shows symptoms of COVID-19

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CBC News - Latest Canada, World, Entertainment and Business News

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The latest news from across Canada and around the world.

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Cold weather stops Covid-19

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Myth = You're way less likely to get this than the flu 

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Myth = You're way less likely to get this than the flu 

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https://www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/HealthU/2020/03/03/common-myths-about-coronavirus-explained-2/

Myth claims to say when exposed to warm weather the  kill the corona virus which means the people claim that when a person has corona virus and they get exposed to warm heat the corona virus will dissapper or evaporate  from the human body

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China created Covid 19 as a biological weapon

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Taking a hot bath prevents coronavirus

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truth= washing your hands prevents the spread

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truth= washing your hands prevents the spread

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https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2020/0311/1121715-covid-19-myths-facts/

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myth=  drink water every 15 mins to prevent covid 19

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myth=  drink water every 15 mins to prevent covid 19

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https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2020/0311/1121715-covid-19-myths-facts/

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There is a recommended cure for COVID-19

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Coronavirus was said to come from a lab in Wuhan.

It was called the Wuhan Institute of Virology

"How did the coronavirus outbreak start? It didn't come ... - Vox." 4 Mar. 2020,

https://www.vox.com/2020/3/4/21156607/how-did-the-coronavirus-get-started-china-wuhan-lab. Accessed 12 Mar. 2020.

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you're not likely to get it if you're wearing hand sanitizer

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Taking a hot bath prevents coronavirus

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The new Covid - 19 can not be transmitted through misquote bites

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Health experts have urged the public to be mindful of where they get information in relation to facts about Covid-19.

Most are circulated in good faith listing advice from so-called experts ....but the barrage of tweets, texts and emails offer few facts.

Amongst the most common myths being spread around the globe is the advice to drink water at least every 15 minutes so if the virus enters your mouth the liquid will wash it into the stomach where acids will kill it. Not true.

Regularly rinsing your nose with saline is another "tip" being circulated to help prevent infection....... along with eating garlic. Again not true.

And there are lots of variations of false advice on to use heat to kill the virus including using hairdryers and drinking hot water. None of these are true.

Experts are also warning against using homemade hand sanitisers. Alcohol content must be at least 60% and getting the ratio of components correct can be difficult.

Many are more suitable for cleaning surfaces and could be harmful to your skin.

The WHO has dedicated a page to separating fact from fiction.

It says cold weather and snow will not kill the virus.

And on the other extreme taking a hot bath won't prevent it either.

It cannot be transmitted through goods manufactured in China or any country reporting COVID-19 cases.

And the WHO says it cannot be transmitted through mosquito bites.

Another fact is washing hands does help prevent the spread.

To get reliable information people are being advised to check the HSE website.

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Health experts have urged the public to be mindful of where they get information in relation to facts about Covid-19. Most are circulated in good faith listing advice from so-called experts ....but the barrage of tweets, texts and emails offer few facts.

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Covid-19 will continue to spread.

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Wearing a face mask is certainly not an iron-clad guarantee that you won't get sick - viruses can also transmit through the eyes and tiny viral particles, known as aerosols, can penetrate masks. However, masks are effective at capturing droplets, which is a main transmission route of coronavirus, and some studies have estimated a roughly fivefold protection versus no barrier alone (although others have found lower levels of effectiveness).

Wearing a face mask is certainly not an iron-clad guarantee that you won't get sick - viruses can also transmit through the eyes and tiny viral particles, known as aerosols, can penetrate masks. However, masks are effective at capturing droplets, which is a main transmission route of coronavirus, and some studies have estimated a roughly fivefold protection versus no barrier alone (although others have found lower levels of effectiveness).

If you are likely to be in close contact with someone infected, a mask cuts the chance of the disease being passed on. If you're showing symptoms of coronavirus, or have been diagnosed, wearing a mask can also protect others. So masks are crucial for health and social care workers looking after patients and are also recommended for family members who need to care for someone who is ill - ideally both the patient and carer should have a mask.

However, masks will probably make little difference if you're just walking around town or taking a bus so there is no need to bulk-buy a huge supply.

Claim: 'It is mutating into a more deadly strain'

All viruses accumulate mutations over time and the virus that causes Covid-19 is no different. How widespread different strains of a virus become depends on natural selection - the versions that can propagate quickest and replicate effectively in the body will be the most "successful". This doesn't necessarily mean most dangerous for people though, as viruses that kill people rapidly or make them so sick that they are incapacitated may be less likely to be transmitted.

Genetic analysis by Chinese scientists of 103 samples of the virus, taken from patients in Wuhan and other cities, suggests that early on two main strains emerged, designated L and S. Although the L strain appeared to be more prevalent than the S strain (about 70% of the samples belonged to the former), the S branch of the virus was found to be the ancestral version.

The team behind this research suggested that this may indicate the L strain is more "aggressive", either transmitting more easily or replicating faster inside the body. However, this theory is speculative at this stage - there haven't yet been direct comparisons to see whether people who catch one version of the virus are more likely to pass it on or suffer more severe symptoms.

Claim: 'It is no more dangerous than winter flu'

Many individuals who get coronavirus will experience nothing worse than seasonal flu symptoms, but the overall profile of the disease, including its mortality rate, looks more serious. At the start of an outbreak the apparent mortality rate can be an overestimate if a lot of mild cases are being missed. But this week, a WHO expert suggested that this has not been the case with Covid-19. Bruce Aylward, who led an international mission to China to learn about the virus and the country's response, said the evidence did not suggest that we were only seeing the tip of the iceberg. If borne out by further testing, this could mean that current estimates of a roughly 1% fatality rate are accurate. This would make Covid-19 about 10 times more deadly than seasonal flu, which is estimated to kill between 290,000 and 650,000 people a year globally.

Claim: 'It only kills the elderly, so younger people can relax'

Most people who are not elderly and do not have underlying health conditions will not become critically ill from Covid-19. But the illness still has a higher chance of leading to serious respiratory symptoms than seasonal flu and there are other at-risk groups - health workers, for instance, are more vulnerable because they are likely to have higher exposure to the virus. The actions that young, healthy people take, including reporting symptoms and following quarantine instructions, will have an important role in protecting the most vulnerable in society and in shaping the overall trajectory of the outbreak.

Claim: 'You need to be with an infected person for 10 minutes'

For flu, some hospital guidelines define exposure as being within six feet of an infected person who sneezes or coughs for 10 minutes or longer. However, it is possible to be infected with shorter interactions or even by picking the virus up from contaminated surfaces, although this is thought to be a less common route of transmission.

Claim: 'A vaccine could be ready within a few months'

Scientists were quick out of the gates in beginning development of a vaccine for the new coronavirus, helped by the early release of the genetic sequence by Chinese researchers. The development of a viable vaccine continues apace, with several teams now testing candidates in animal experiments. However, the incremental trials required before a commercial vaccine could be rolled out are still a lengthy undertaking - and an essential one to ensure that even rare side-effects are spotted. A commercially available vaccine within a year would be quick.'

Claim: 'If a pandemic is declared, there is nothing more we can do to stop the spread'

A pandemic is defined as worldwide spread of a new disease - but the exact threshold for declaring one is quite vague. In practice, the actions being taken would not change whether or not a pandemic is declared. Containment measures are not simply about eliminating the disease altogether. Delaying the onset of an outbreak or decreasing the peak is crucial in allowing health systems to cope with a sudden influx of patients.
Topics

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Can a face mask stop coronavirus? Covid-19 myths busted

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Wearing a face mask is certainly not an iron-clad guarantee that you won't get sick - viruses can also transmit through the eyes and tiny viral particles, known as aerosols, can penetrate masks.

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Myth = use heat to kill the virus including using hairdryers and drinking hot water.

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Myth = use heat to kill the virus including using hairdryers and drinking hot water.

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COVID-19 can spread during its incubation period ( developing period )

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Hand Dryers are effictive at killing coronavirus

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It's not safe to receive a package from China
https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-myths.html

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Any cough-based illness is COVID-19.
https://www.pulmonologyadvisor.com/home/topics/lung-infection/10-myths-about-covid-19/

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Eating Garlic Prevent's coronavirus

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130 166 cases and 4754 deaths

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COVID - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer

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Daily and weekly updated statistics tracking the number of COVID-19 cases, recovered, and deaths. Historical data with cumulative charts, graphs, and updates.

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The coronavirus cannot be transmitted through goods manufactured in China or any country reporting COVID-19 cases.
https://foxbaltimore.com/news/coronavirus/debunking-coronavirus-myths

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Wearing a mask will protect me from Covid-19.

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Corona the beer company paid scientists to change the name to covid 19

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The blue face masks will protect you from coronavirus

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Regularly rinsing your nose with saline will help prevent infection with the new coronavirus

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The MLS season is suspended according to 6ixbuzztv on instagram

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corona virus kills old people but doesn't kill kids

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Two girls in Syria wear masks as a preventive measure. Children have been mysteriously untouched by the virus worldwide. (Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images)

One of the few mercies of the spreading coronavirus is that it leaves young children virtually untouched - a mystery virologists say may hold vital clues as to how the virus works.

In China, only 2.4 percent of reported cases were children and only 0.2 percent of reported cases were children who got critically ill, according to the World Health Organization. China has reported no case of a young child dying of the disease covid-19.

Meanwhile, the new coronavirus has proved especially deadly on the other end of the age spectrum. The fatality rate in China for those over 80 is an estimated 21.9 percent, per the WHO. For ages 10 to 39, however, the fatality rate is roughly 0.2 percent, according to a separate study drawing on patient records of 44,672 confirmed cases. And fatalities and severe symptoms are almost nonexistent at even younger ages.

That means the new coronavirus is behaving very differently from other viruses, like seasonal influenza, which are usually especially dangerous for the very young and very old.

"With respiratory infections like this, we usually see a U-shaped curve on who gets hits hardest. Young children at one end of the U because their immune systems aren't yet developed and old people at the other end because their immune systems grow weaker," said Vineet Menachery, a virologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch. "With this virus, one side of the U is just completely missing."

Figuring out why children are so unaffected could lead to breakthroughs in understanding how and why the virus sickens and kills other age groups, said Frank Esper, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Cleveland Clinic Children's. Among the questions Esper and others are exploring: Is the severity of infection related to what patients were exposed to previously? Does it have to do with how our immune systems change with age? Or could it be due to pollution damage in the lungs that people accumulate over years?

"Or maybe it has nothing to do with the virus and has to do with host, like underlying conditions in the lungs, diabetes or hypertension. After all, few 7-year-olds or newborns have hypertension," said Esper, who studies viral respiratory infections and new diseases. "Figuring out what's at play here could be helpful in so many ways."

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Previous coronavirus outbreaks have also mysteriously spared the young. No children died during the SARS outbreak in 2002, which killed 774 people. And few children developed symptoms from the deadly MERS coronavirus, which has killed 858 since 2012.

To find out why, Menachery has been giving mice at his Texas lab SARS - which is a very close cousin to the new coronavirus. Baby mice at his lab have shaken off the infection, while the older mice have had their lungs and bodies ravaged by the disease.

Menachery found the older mice's fatalities were strongly related to not just weakness in their immune systems but also a "disregulation" that caused their immune systems to overreact to the SARS coronavirus. That's similar to how humans die of infections from the new coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2.

"It's the aggressive response from their immune system that is damaging them, even more than the infection itself," Menachery said. "It's like police responding to a misdemeanor with a SWAT team crashing through the door."

The question he and others have still struggled to answer, however, is why the baby mice escape unscathed.

Some experts have floated a theory that because children are so heavily exposed to four other mild coronaviruses, which circulate every year and cause the common cold, that may give kids some kind of strengthened immunity. But many have doubts about that argument because adults catch the common cold coronaviruses too, and the immune systems of children - especially under the age of five - are underdeveloped, which should make them more vulnerable, not less.

"If it bears out that kids are less prone to infection, then I suspect there's something more mechanical than immunological going on," said Esper, the pediatric infection expert. "Something about the receptors in children's bodies or their lungs is interfering with the virus' ability to attach itself."

"It just shows you how much we don't know about this virus," said Stuart Weston, a virologist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine who has been testing anti-viral drugs that could help treat the new coronavirus. "The focus now is on vaccines and treatment, but there are all these big questions we're going to want to answer in the long-term if we want to really understand how these coronaviruses work."

So given all that, does it make sense to close schools?

Because so few cases have been found in children, there's been speculation children are simply less likely to get infected.

But many epidemiologists suspect mild symptoms may simply be masking that children are getting infected the same rates as adults. New data published last week by Chinese researchers showed authorities searching for coronavirus cases based on symptoms found lower rates in kids. But when they relied on contact tracing - testing people who come in contact with a confirmed case - children seemed to be getting infected at the same rate as adults.

"We know from pandemic research that closing schools can be effective in slowing down transmission because children are often a driver of infection. They spread it to parents, relatives and the wider community," said Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Some districts may find themselves closing schools because it will be tough to stay open as teachers, principals and janitors get infected, said Rivers, who has children herself. "We may end up closing schools in part to protect the adults and staff."

Coronavirus: What you need to read
Updated March 11, 2020
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Coronavirus is mysteriously sparing kids and killing the elderly. Understanding why may help defeat the virus.

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One of the few mercies of the spreading coronavirus is that it leaves young children virtually untouched - a mystery virologists say may hold vital clues as to how the virus works. In China, only 2.4 percent of reported cases were children and only 0.2 percent of reported cases were children who got critically ill, according to the World Health Organization.