COVID-19 / Coronavirus: Disinformation, Fake News & Scams

[EnolaGaia]

This updated Live Science article refutes 14 common myths about COVID-19 and its effects.

14 Coronavirus myths busted by science

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. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-myths.html

 

[EnolaGaia]

Well ... So much for the theory that a crisis brings out the best in our fellow humans ...

A hospital owner in Bangladesh allegedly scammed patients out of $350,000 using fake Covid-19 tests. Then he tried to flee the country

A hospital owner in Bangladesh was arrested Wednesday on charges of fraud, after allegedly issuing thousands of fake Covid-19 test results to deceive patients out of an estimated $350,000, in a wide-ranging scam that has shaken confidence in the country's medical establishment.

Authorities in Bangladesh say Mohammad Shahed, 43, who had evaded authorities for nine days, was caught trying to cross a river into neighboring India while wearing a burqa.

Shahed is accused of providing patients with fake negative test results for the novel coronavirus, said Col. Ashique Billah, a spokesman for the country's Rapid Action Battalion, an elite security force.

Shahed is also accused of charging people for virus treatments and documents certifying they did not contract the coronavirus after agreeing with the government that he would provide those services free of charge.

Billah said that two medical facilities owned by Shahed conducted some 4,000 genuine coronavirus tests, but faked the results of another 6,500. ...

FULL STORY: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/16/asia/bangladesh-covid-test-scam-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

 

[Eyespy]

My whole family has high blood pressure and that includes the cat!

Ladyloafer reminded me of a friend- her whole family including Daughter inLaw have various food allergies and intolerances with all sorts of symptoms that they can discuss in detail at great length.

This includes the cat

 

[EnolaGaia]

The 17 July edition of AP's "Not Real News" refutes the following fake claim circulating with regard to COVID-19:

CLAIM: Photo shows a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report with many claims about face masks, including that cloth masks trap exhaled carbon dioxide and collect mildew within 30 minutes, risking your health.

THE FACTS: The document in the photo is fake and falsely attributed to the CDC, the agency told the AP. The CDC recommends the use of cloth face coverings in public settings to slow the spread of the coronavirus. ...

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/5a4574ef418e240a207e601cdf75c18a

 

[EnolaGaia]

In Bolivia the disinfo / fake news / false hope / scam wars have become a matter of national politics.

In Bolivian city, people buy fake - and toxic - virus cure

Long lines form every morning in one of the Bolivian cities hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic as desperate people wait to buy small bottles of chlorine dioxide, a toxic bleaching agent that has been falsely touted as a cure for COVID-19 and myriad other diseases.

The rush in the city of Cochabamba to buy a disinfectant known to cause harm to those who ingest it comes even after the Bolivian Health Ministry warned of its dangers and said at least five people were poisoned after taking chlorine dioxide in La Paz, the capital.

Dr. Antonio Viruez, who is treating the five at a hospital, said one incorrectly believed he had COVID-19 and developed pneumonitis, an inflammation of lung tissue, after taking chlorine dioxide and a medication used to treat parasite infestations. The other patients are improving, he said.

“The Health Ministry cannot risk recommending something that doesn’t have a scientific basis,” said Miguel Ángel Delgado, a senior ministry official. ...

However, Bolivia’s opposition-controlled congress is promoting the use of chlorine dioxide. Last week, the Senate approved a bill authorizing the emergency “manufacture, marketing, supply and use of chlorine dioxide solution for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus.” ...

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/97afc6e9f07751ba14493a4587ff26dc

 

[James_H]

A paper in an apparently reputable scientific journal links Covid-19 and 5G radiation. The journal is called JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL REGULATORS & HOMEOSTATIC AGENTS - anyone know anything about it? I'm not well versed in science or medicine but the paper reads a bit like nonsense.
https://www.biolifesas.org/biolife/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FIORANELLI.pdf

 

[Vardoger]

A paper in an apparently reputable scientific journal links Covid-19 and 5G radiation. The journal is called JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL REGULATORS & HOMEOSTATIC AGENTS - anyone know anything about it? I'm not well versed in science or medicine but the paper reads a bit like nonsense.
https://www.biolifesas.org/biolife/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FIORANELLI.pdf

A lot of alternative and CT sites are mentioning it, but no MSM as far as I can see.

 

[Min Bannister]

It's a paid for "journal". You write any old crap and pay them and they'll publish it.

 

[James_H]

It's a paid for "journal". You write any old crap and pay them and they'll publish it.

That was my suspicion. The authors do seem to be attached to real universities, does publishing this kind of thing affect their academic careers?

 

[Min Bannister]

That was my suspicion. The authors do seem to be attached to real universities, does publishing this kind of thing affect their academic careers?

You would think so wouldn't you? I just put the first author into Pubmed a d it came up with some pretty fringe stuff.
For example:-

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31850135/

Formation of Neural Circuits in an Expanded Version of Darwin's Theory: Effects of DNAs in Extra Dimensions and within the Earth's Core on Neural Networks

First group couple to our universe from one side and produce matters like some genes of DNAs and couple to an anti-universe from another side with opposite sign and create anti-matters like some anti-genes of anti-DNAs. Second group couple to the star and planet's cores like the earth's core from one side and produce anti-matters like stringy black anti-DNA and couple to outer layers of stars and planets like the earth from other side and produce matters like some genes of DNAs on the earth.

 

[Min Bannister]

This authors email address is a gmail one and not a uni one..

 

[James_H]

You would think so wouldn't you? I just put the first author into Pubmed a d it came up with some pretty fringe stuff.
For example:-

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31850135/

Formation of Neural Circuits in an Expanded Version of Darwin's Theory: Effects of DNAs in Extra Dimensions and within the Earth's Core on Neural Networks

Wow

Google came up with this:


The effects of quantum spectrum of 4 + n-dimensional water around a DNA on pure water in four dimensional universe

 

[hunck]

First group couple to our universe from one side and produce matters like some genes of DNAs and couple to an anti-universe from another side with opposite sign and create anti-matters like some anti-genes of anti-DNAs. Second group couple to the star and planet's cores like the earth's core from one side and produce anti-matters like stringy black anti-DNA and couple to outer layers of stars and planets like the earth from other side and produce matters like some genes of DNAs on the earth.

I think your avatar's expression is apt here.

 

[ramonmercado]

Bird brained.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1286451690892341252

 

[brownmane]

Bird brained.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1286451690892341252

Good for the bird. Hopefully it doesn't contract covid.

 

[Cochise]

I've put this here because it might be thought controversial, and because I haven't bothered to investigate the reports closely, it's just something that occurred to me as a phone call and tallied with something

I've been borderline type 2 diabetic for 20 years at least. During that time my count has fluctuated up and down slightly but basically remained stable. Which , considering my life, diet, anxiety levels etc. have been anything but stable during that period, I thought rather encouraging. For all I know that's where its been all my life. However out of the blue I got a phone call telling me I've now been classified as having type 2 diabetes. I objected, pointing out the information above, and the next reading is likely to be lower. Particularly as the last reading was taken during a bad bout of depression and I was drinking like a fish at the time.

I am not in the slightest worried. But, apparently, now the classification is in, I will always have type 2 diabetes. The best I can hope for is that I will be in remission. Even though I haven't had any relevant symptoms, and , as I say, likely this range is just normal for me. The poor woman was nearly tearing her hair out as she utterly failed to convince me that I have a serious disease. Of course if my next test has jumped up out of my 'normal' range I might try to take it seriously.

It appears that in England, the same applies to Covid-19 - you are never cured, so if you have once tested positive for Covid-19 it will always be put on your death certificate even if you've been run over by a bus. Which may explain our terrible deaths to population ratio.

Article here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53443724

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

I've put this here because it might be thought controversial, and because I haven't bothered to investigate the reports closely, it's just something that occurred to me as a phone call and tallied with something

I've been borderline type 2 diabetic for 20 years at least. During that time my count has fluctuated up and down slightly but basically remained stable. Which , considering my life, diet, anxiety levels etc. have been anything but stable during that period, I thought rather encouraging. For all I know that's where its been all my life. However out of the blue I got a phone call telling me I've now been classified as having type 2 diabetes. I objected, pointing out the information above, and the next reading is likely to be lower. Particularly as the last reading was taken during a bad bout of depression and I was drinking like a fish at the time.

I am not in the slightest worried. But, apparently, now the classification is in, I will always have type 2 diabetes. The best I can hope for is that I will be in remission. Even though I haven't had any relevant symptoms, and , as I say, likely this range is just normal for me. The poor woman was nearly tearing her hair out as she utterly failed to convince me that I have a serious disease. Of course if my next test has jumped up out of my 'normal' range I might try to take it seriously.

It appears that in England, the same applies to Covid-19 - you are never cured, so if you have once tested positive for Covid-19 it will always be put on your death certificate even if you've been run over by a bus. Which may explain our terrible deaths to population ratio.

Article here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53443724

Yes. With hindsight, which the government appears to be using now, it was a huge mistake to be one of the few countries not reporting recovered Covid19 cases. This has obviously inflated the mortality stats and makes the UK response look far worse than it really was.

As for diabetes, my wife is slim, around the optimal weight and, apart from the stress of being married to me, isn't an anxious type. She was already diagnosed as pre-diabetic though and had a blood test on Thursday to test for full diabetes.
Sometimes it's just bad luck that your DNA makes you susceptible to such conditions (her sister has diabetes).

 

[Cochise]

Well ... So much for the theory that a crisis brings out the best in our fellow humans ...


FULL STORY: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/16/asia/bangladesh-covid-test-scam-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

Any brief study of past pandemics shows that responsible behaviour is the exception rather than the rule - which is why we remember Eyam or whatever it was called.

I went to the supermarket for the first time in a couple of months yesterday. My son's got no wheels at the moment so I was giving him a lift, as the bus services have been cut to the bone. I would think less than 1 in 10 was wearing a mask (I can only remember two people, both young) and social distancing in the body of the shop was non-existent. The staff were enforcing it in the check-out queues, but the outside queues and controlling the numbers in the shop have gone by the board.

 

[Cochise]

Yes. With hindsight, which the government appears to be using now, it was a huge mistake to be one of the few countries not reporting recovered Covid19 cases. This has obviously inflated the mortality stats and makes the UK response look far worse than it really was.

As for diabetes, my wife is slim, around the optimal weight and, apart from the stress of being married to me, isn't an anxious type. She was already diagnosed as pre-diabetic though and had a blood test on Thursday to test for full diabetes.
Sometimes it's just bad luck that your DNA makes you susceptible to such conditions (her sister has diabetes).

No diabetes in my family. Obviously if any of the various tests I have had showed a sudden significant increase I'd try and do something about it, but as I feel physically as fine as I'm ever going to given the previous damage I really am not impressed. If they could sort out my spine that would improve the quality of my life. But they can't. They couldn't fix my eye either. After I lost it they couldn't even fix the socket despite two years of trying - it only finally got better (so I didn't need to wear a patch - not for my benefit but not to upset others) when they gave up and left it alone.

So in general if what the doctor tells me and what my body is telling me are at variance then I'm going to need the doctor to work quite hard to convince me intervention is necessary.

Anyway, we digress. I'm sure if I actually got Covid-19 my body would react in some unpredictable way because that's what it always has done. I must be one of the few people to have had chickenpox three times.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Yes. With hindsight, which the government appears to be using now, it was a huge mistake to be one of the few countries not reporting recovered Covid19 cases. This has obviously inflated the mortality stats and makes the UK response look far worse than it really was.

As for diabetes, my wife is slim, around the optimal weight and, apart from the stress of being married to me, isn't an anxious type. She was already diagnosed as pre-diabetic though and had a blood test on Thursday to test for full diabetes.
Sometimes it's just bad luck that your DNA makes you susceptible to such conditions (her sister has diabetes).

I've been saying this for years now, getting type 2 diabetes doesn't depend entirely on someone being overweight. There's a big component that is simply genetics.
When I was first told that I'd got it, I was relatively thin and fit. The ill-informed press and media have given everybody the idea that it's just down to someone being a fat, lazy lump. There are even Olympic athletes who have the condition.
I AM a fat, lazy lump, but I'm doing something about it.
My Dad and his Dad before him had type 2 diabetes. Neither of them was overweight.
My grandfather was a bricklayer and labourer - a very active job, he never drank alcohol. My Dad was also not a drinker.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I've put this here because it might be thought controversial, and because I haven't bothered to investigate the reports closely, it's just something that occurred to me as a phone call and tallied with something

I've been borderline type 2 diabetic for 20 years at least. During that time my count has fluctuated up and down slightly but basically remained stable. Which , considering my life, diet, anxiety levels etc. have been anything but stable during that period, I thought rather encouraging. For all I know that's where its been all my life. However out of the blue I got a phone call telling me I've now been classified as having type 2 diabetes. I objected, pointing out the information above, and the next reading is likely to be lower. Particularly as the last reading was taken during a bad bout of depression and I was drinking like a fish at the time.

I am not in the slightest worried. But, apparently, now the classification is in, I will always have type 2 diabetes. The best I can hope for is that I will be in remission. Even though I haven't had any relevant symptoms, and , as I say, likely this range is just normal for me. The poor woman was nearly tearing her hair out as she utterly failed to convince me that I have a serious disease. Of course if my next test has jumped up out of my 'normal' range I might try to take it seriously.

It appears that in England, the same applies to Covid-19 - you are never cured, so if you have once tested positive for Covid-19 it will always be put on your death certificate even if you've been run over by a bus. Which may explain our terrible deaths to population ratio.

Article here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53443724

When I was first told I had it, I had a similar reaction.
I pointed out that my blood sugar levels were up and down all the time - how did they know that wasn't normal for me?
Same with my high blood pressure - how did they know it wasn't just my 'normal'? Does everybody have to have a perfect reading?

It's like we're robots or something.

 

[cycleboy2]

Judy Mikovits (a nutter) is putting it about that the coronavirus was created by... Dr Anthony Fauci. Words fail me. The world has literally gone mad.

https://www.mediamatters.org/sincla...nspiracy-theorists-platform-spread-their-lies

 

[Mythopoeika]

Judy Mikovits (a nutter) is putting it about that the coronavirus was created by... Dr Anthony Fauci. Words fail me. The world has literally gone mad.

https://www.mediamatters.org/sincla...nspiracy-theorists-platform-spread-their-lies

She's a highly qualified nutter.

 

[Yithian]

The video in the third link below from 'America's Frontline Doctors' is being deleted from Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Certain high-profile political figures have been sanctioned for posting it.

It's cropping up as fast as they can cut it down and garnering millions of views:

Article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/28/trump-coronavirus-misinformation-twitter/

The flamboyant black doctor at 5:23 (Dr Stella Immanuel, a paediatrician) has some history in dealing with problems associated with witchcraft and spiritual warfare and has discussed the effects of alien DNA and demon sperm:

Article:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/stell...-alien-dna-demon-sperm-and-hydroxychloroquine

Caveat: there's a strong chance that many untruths are uttered in this video.

I post it so we can analyse and consider, not because the claims they make are true:

The video:

Alternative hosting:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/Pqqv...jvGNiOpEXOnQTlbDJJ-HEPwC00f9xCJDfvAqpmyNB_gqI


We really are living in bizarre world now.

 

[Yithian]

I'd take anything she says as gospel:

Source:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008JGML04/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

 

[cycleboy2]

My direct dealings with social media are few, with this forum representing the majority of my dealing with the online world.

But I'm also a member of 'nextdoor', a 'hyperlocal social networking service for neighborhoods'. This is where you go to flog or give away curtains, furniture, topsoil, kids' toys and so on. It's a great concept, small, local and green.

Yesterday, however, somebody had posted a link to a coronavirus-denying Youtube video. I reported it – it failed nextdoor's terms and conditions on just about every level. I'm pleased to say it has been taken down, though I was slightly surprised to receive an email from the original poster, with the following message: 'Distrust the government, Avoid MSM, fight the lies.'

He's a twat.

 

[PeteS]

I'd take anything she says as gospel:

View attachment 28410

Source:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008JGML04/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

Whilst it is interesting to read about some peoples' views on "reality" (you can then occasionally think well I'm not quite that mad), you have to worry slightly that the above character and her ilk are out and about in the world. Or is it just me?

 

[PeteS]

My direct dealings with social media are few, with this forum representing the majority of my dealing with the online world.

But I'm also a member of 'nextdoor', a 'hyperlocal social networking service for neighborhoods'. This is where you go to flog or give away curtains, furniture, topsoil, kids' toys and so on. It's a great concept, small, local and green.

Yesterday, however, somebody had posted a link to a coronavirus-denying Youtube video. I reported it – it failed nextdoor's terms and conditions on just about every level. I'm pleased to say it has been taken down, though I was slightly surprised to receive an email from the original poster, with the following message: 'Distrust the government, Avoid MSM, fight the lies.'

He's a twat.

Yep my dealings with social media are pretty much this place and a couple of hobby forums.

I have found that people like the character in your neighbourhood will never accept reality no matter what the evidence. I long ago gave up any attempt to argue or discuss with these people. Life is too short.

 

[cycleboy2]

Yep my dealings with social media are pretty much this place and a couple of hobby forums.

I have found that people like the character in your neighbourhood will never accept reality no matter what the evidence. I long ago gave up any attempt to argue or discuss with these people. Life is too short.

Ditto. I wanted to reply, point him to sources but it would be futile. After all, we have an American president who praises a doctor who thinks that alien DNA is being used in operations. In a world like this, rationality has been kicked into the long grass, buried, eviscerated and burned. And then buried again...

 

[Swifty]

Ditto. I wanted to reply, point him to sources but it would be futile. After all, we have an American president who praises a doctor who thinks that alien DNA is being used in operations. In a world like this, rationality has been kicked into the long grass, buried, eviscerated and burned. And then buried again...

It really does feel like wer're going back to the dark ages at the moment .. I can't stop laughing at this facebook tool ..

"Tesco have abandoned all safety procedures, free for all now, like in our local Spar one worker has got a useless visor on, I spoke to the manager who said it's a free choice between the mask and plastic visor, this visor has been proved to be useless in Switzerland where they have done a research, when they just used the plastic visor in care homes and hospitals,, compared with masks, the people using this useless visors speed the virus, we've got some idiot in our local Spar wearing one, ,the manager in our shop didn't care, this man was there all day with this useless visor walking past us really close without a care in the world, disgusting, this was our local Spar in Pendeen, they don't give a shit"