False coronavirus claims and phony remedies
A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:
CLAIM: Eating alkaline foods will stave off the novel coronavirus, which has a pH level of 5.5 to 8.5.
THE FACTS: A false post circulating on social media claims that COVID-19 has a pH level between 5.5 to 8.5, and in order to fend off the virus people must consume alkaline foods. Both points are false. First, a virus does not have a pH level. Second, the body’s pH levels cannot be changed through diet. “A virus itself does not have a pH,” said Sarah Stanley, associate professor of infectious diseases and vaccinology at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health. Stanley explained in an email that “pH is something that applies to a water based solution, which a virus is not.” In addition, she said, it’s not possible for diet to change the pH of blood, cells or tissues. The body regulates pH levels; it’s not something a person would want to change. “Eating a healthy and balanced diet supports immunity and can be helpful for fighting off infections. However, there is no evidence that consuming alkaline foods specifically is beneficial,” she said. The post cites the “Journal of Virology & Antiviral Research” and states: “This is to inform us all that the pH for corona virus varies from 5.5 to 8.5. All we need to do, to beat coronavirus, we need to take more of an alkaline foods that are above the pH level of the virus.” It lists a number of foods to fight off the novel coronavirus, including lemons, limes and pineapples, but the pH levels provided for them are incorrect. For example, it gives a pH level of 9 for lemons and a level of 9.2 for limes, when both have a pH of about 2, a food science specialist noted. “These pH values for these foods are completely wrong,” Donald Schaffner, extension specialist in food science at Rutgers University, told the AP. “The human body is designed to be really good at maintaining its pH.” Schaffner said people should eat those foods if they want, but “the best way to keep from getting a virus is to stay away from people.”
CLAIM: Drinking alcoholic beverages can prevent coronavirus.
THE FACTS: A Facebook post with the caption “Time to disinfect our insides” featured a fabricated memo made to appear like a recommendation from a Kansas City hospital that drinking alcoholic beverages would reduce the risk of coronavirus. The manufactured memo attributed to St. Luke’s Hospital said, “After extensive research, our findings show that consuming alcoholic beverages may help reduce the risk of infection by the novel coronavirus; COVID-19. Vodka is the most recommended for drinking, cleaning, and sanitizing.” Saint Luke’s Health System, a hospital network that includes the hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, issued a statement in response on March 11, stating: “False reports are circulating that say drinking alcohol can reduce the risk of COVID-19. THIS IS NOT TRUE. Saint Luke’s follows CDC guidance.” The hospital suggests practicing good hand hygiene, washing hands for at least 20 seconds, and when soap and water is not available, using a hand sanitizer that is at least 60 percent alcohol. Dr. Robert Legare Atmar, an infectious disease specialist at Baylor College, said consuming alcohol will not protect against infectious diseases like COVID-19. “Alcohol consumption has long been touted as a means to prevent infection with a variety of pathogens, but there is no evidence that such alcohol consumption protects against any infection,” Dr. Atmar told the AP in an email. “In fact, the evidence is often the opposite —- that alcohol consumption is associated with increased risk of infection.”
CLAIM: Put a small pea-sized amount of antibiotic ointment like mupirocin inside your nostrils. The ointment will kill any infectious germs when you breathe and should kill the coronavirus before it gets to your lungs.
THE FACTS: The antibiotic ointment will not protect you from the coronavirus. Antibacterial medications like mupirocin will only help fight off bacteria like staphylococcus and streptococcus, not COVID-19, which is a virus, said Dr. Daniela Kroshinsky, director of inpatient dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital. “The most important steps to prevent infection with COVID are physical distancing, good hand washing, and avoiding touching your face,” she said in an email. The false posts circulating online, which included a photo of mupirocin, recommended that people protect themselves and others by putting a “small pea-sized amount on the tip of a Q-tip” and swabbing the inside of their nostrils. Dr. Carrie Kovarik, an associate professor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania, said mupirocin can be used in the nose of patients who have bacterial infections like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA. “It’s an antibiotic not an antiviral and does not have activity against viruses,” she said. “People are just sort of grasping at straws.”
CLAIM: Israel has had no deaths from coronavirus because people in the country have been cured by drinking hot water with lemon and bicarbonate of soda at night.
THE FACTS: The drink is not a cure for the coronavirus, and there have been deaths attributed to the coronavirus in Israel. As of Friday, Israel had confirmed more than 7,030 cases of the virus and 39 deaths. Posts predominantly shared on Facebook and WhatsApps falsely state that “the action of the lemon with hotter baking soda immediately kills the virus, completely eliminates it from the body.” Dr. Shira Doron, an infectious disease physician and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center, told The Associated Press that nothing should be presumed to prevent or treat the virus unless it has gone through clinical trials. “There are no herbal remedies I would recommend for COVID-19,” she said. Medical experts have said that developing a vaccine for the virus could take at least 12 to 18 months. Dr. Doron recommends that people keep a well-rounded healthy diet, get sleep and minimize their stress, because those factors affect the immune system.