This pandemic has brought us a bunch of conspiracy theories. I see them on Facebook and I immediately become enraged at the stupidity of my friends. But, I then take a deep breath and realize that sometimes they just get sucked in by a slick looking video or perhaps they think someone is an expert. I remember that not everyone thinks the way I do about things. I try to be skeptical and use critical thinking when presented with information.
Anyways, I would like to address a few of the things I have seen. I will not post videos or screenshots of the nonsense because I do not want to give them any clicks or promotion.
First we have the “doctor” who has a long video where he talks about how the treatment that Trump is touting works. Before anyone jumps down my throat about hydroxychloroquine, just take a deep breath and look into it. Maybe it can treat Covid-19, I am not a doctor. What I have read from actual scientists seems not too promising. That is my point though. I listen to experts. The “doctor” everyone keeps sharing? He is a chiropractor. I know I have a few friends who are chiropractors and I apologize for this, but chiropractic is not legit. Seriously, that guy in Ebensburg told us that his chiropractic skills have cured cancer and helped end starvation in Costa Rica. Here is a good Skeptoid episode about chiropractic. So no, that guy did not expose the medical community and their lies about the coronavirus.
Next there are the people who think this is some kind of cover for 5G. There are two theories floating around. One is that the government and big tech companies manipulated the media into believing there was a virus to keep people in their homes so they can install 5G towers everywhere. The other theory is that the illness is actually 5G sickness and this is a cover up. Go to any YouTube video about the evils of 5G and read the comments…numerous engineers and scientists will point out all the flaws in their video and usually provide actual facts backing up their points.
Chemtrails? Nah, fuck off with that stupidity. It does not even deserve a discussion.
Some conservatives think China engineered the virus (I have even heard that it was at the request of Hunter Biden) in order to tank the economy and guarantee that Trump loses the election. Seems a little weird to create a virus then release it in your own country first in order to harm the United States. First of all, researchers are fairly certain this coronavirus is not man-made. Second…what a convoluted theory.
Finally, there are all sorts of theories and speculation out there about whether the numbers being reported are legit. This all seems to come from people looking at New York City. The numbers seem so far out of whack with other cities. And there was that whole thing where doctors were told to treat anyone with symptoms as if they had Covid-19 instead of testing, since at the time tests were so few and far between.
NYC is huge. People do not usually get just how big it is. There are 8.6 million people in NYC. For comparison: LA & Chicago combined have less. In fact, you can add those two with fourth largest (Houston) and finally surpass NYC. Naturally, the numbers will look big in a city that large. It also hurts that NYC is the most densely populated city in the country. And the city was slow to enact shelter in place orders. New Orleans has been hit fairly hard. Compared to their 397,000 people, they have a Covid-19 death rate of about .29% of the total population. NYC? .13%. But, since they are 21x larger than New Orleans, then the numbers look crazier. 11,000 deaths vs. 1100 (looks like NYC is doing a decent job compared to New Orleans).
The next issue is how do we classify a Covid-19 death. Obviously if someone has the coronavirus and they die in the hospital, then yeah, we can clearly count that person. However, it becomes complicated when there is not enough testing. Also, the reason we talk about flattening the curve is because we do not want to overrun hospitals. Think about this for a second. If a hospital is completely maxed out, every bed is full, the entire staff is working round the clock. Supplies begin to dwindle. What happens if a person has a heart attack or complications from cancer or they get into a car accident. Yeah, those things do not stop happening during a pandemic. That victim may not get the best care. It is impossible to know if they would have died during normal times or if they died because of the coronavirus. But, it is hard to discount that the pandemic may have played a part, even though the person did not have Covid-19. See how this is incredibly complex?
So yeah, if you see these idiotic theories being posted, just ignore them. You will not convince people. It is sad to say, but it is not even worth the aggravation.
