There is an overwhelming amount of information about coronavirus circulating on the internet these days. Here are five ideas and sentiments that are utterly false.

Wearing a face mask is the best protection against coronavirus infection

Despite all the pictures of people in China walking around wearing face masks, they have not been found effective for preventing viral infection in the general public. There are a variety of types of medical masks ranging from surgical masks that block liquids and droplets (not necessarily viral particles) to N95 respirators that can prevent aerosols but have to be properly fitted. And face masks worn to keep out environmental pollutants are not medical grade and are even less effective.

Instead of wearing a mask to protect yourself, people who have a respiratory illness can help protect others by wearing a proper medical mask. In combination with good hygiene, a medical mask can help keep their germs to themselves.

Because hands are essential vehicles for microorganisms to travel from a surface to inside a body, one benefit of wearing a face mask is to prevent touching your face. In general, washing your hands, not touching your face, coughing and sneezing into your arm, and staying out of crowds in coronavirus epicenters (ie. certain cities Hubei province) are more effective strategies to keeping yourself and family healthy than wearing a face mask in public.

Coronavirus is scarier than other respiratory pathogens

The intense media coverage of coronavirus no doubt contributes to the belief that this is true. Here in the US, where a whopping total of 6 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed, the amount of reporting in the general media is absurdly disproportional to the concern we should have.

In contrast, about 15 million cases of flu with more than 8,000 deaths in just the US this season has gotten nearly zero media coverage. Personally, I’m more scared of influenza than coronavirus. Of course your personal level of concern will depend on where you reside, but coronavirus is by no means the scariest respiratory pathogen currently circulating in the world.

The coronavirus outbreak began from consuming bat soup

A video of a bat in a bowl of broth has made the rounds on the internet this week, stoking racist commentary on Chinese cuisine and fears about contracting the disease.

First, while bats do harbor coronaviruses and are a leading candidate as a natural host for 2019-nCoV, it is unlikely that eating a cooked bat soup would transmit nCoV (assuming it is cooked). Second, it appears that this type of dish is just as rare in China as it is most other places in the world, so an unlikely source for the epidemic. Finally, it was discovered that the video was filmed in 2016 and wasn’t even from China, so I suppose that settles that.

High infectivity reported in Wuhan means coronavirus will cause a pandemic

There was a lot of early speculation as to the scale of this outbreak and I’m afraid we still do not have enough information to predict what will happen. Respected epidemiologists and virologists varied in their predictions ranging from likely to peter out quickly to pandemic-level threat.

One of the ways the spread of disease is forecasted is through a complicated calculation that yields a reproduction number called R0 (R-naught). The R0 essentially estimates how many people could be infected by each infected individual. For example, measles is the most infectious disease with an R0 of about 15, meaning that every individual with measles could infect an additional 15 susceptible (non-immunized) people. Because novel coronavirus is just that, novel, no one is immune. We are all susceptible, which has certainly contributed to the spread so far. Early predictions for 2019-nCoV suggested an R0 around 4-5, but recent estimates are closer to 2.

It is also unknown how the mass quarantines in China will impact transmission of the virus. It is likely that it could increase the R0 value, but that doesn’t necessarily mean increased risk worldwide. I can’t predict what will happen, but given the limited spread outside China so far, the quarantines in place, and an R0 of about 2, it doesn’t appear that coronavirus is likely to be a major global threat even in an entirely susceptible population.

Coronavirus infection is caused by Corona beer

Thanks to Timothy Caulfield for sharing this one on Twitter, I had such pleasure reading this gem of an article. Whether people actually think that Corona beer causes coronavirus infection or browser autofills are likely to add “beer” after “corona” enough to cause a spike in Google searches for “corona beer virus” is anyone’s guess.

I’m not sure there’s anything I have to say except that the only similarity that coronavirus has with Corona beer is that they are both named after a crown, or corona. It is funny that health authorities were concerned (rightfully) about the impact on sentiment and tourism if it was named Wuhan virus. Meanwhile the Corona brewery in Mexico is getting some unintended backlash from the outbreak.

Continue to drink your Corona if you’re into that sort of thing. I’ll stick to my local craft brews because they are far superior in taste to Corona, not because they’ll spare me pneumonia. 

Any other crazy theories or ideas you’ve heard in relation to coronavirus and want to know if there’s any truth behind them? Let me know in the comments or find me on Twitter @CloudyMediaBlog. And don’t ask me about drinking bleach, you should know better.