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Tighten your tinfoil hat. Ever since the coronavirus was discovered, misinformation has spread as quickly as the deadly disease. Wack-a-doo theories are causing people to destroy cellular towers and risk infection by joining protests. One Ohio man called the pandemic a “political ploy” and railed against stay-at-home orders, only to contract the disease and die. …
Tighten your tinfoil hat.
Ever since the coronavirus was discovered, misinformation has spread as quickly as the deadly disease.
Wack-a-doo theories are causing people to destroy cellular towers and risk infection by joining protests. One Ohio man called the pandemic a “political ploy” and railed against stay-at-home orders, only to contract the disease and die. Cooped-up Americans are spending too much time online falling for pseudoscience and conspiratorial speculation when it comes to COVID-19.
Some bad actors are even trying to make a buck off the conjecture, peddling bogus cures such as black cat “paste” or $4,000 COVID “treatment packs.” As yet, there is no cure for the coronavirus.
But while there are a lot of unknowns about the highly contagious virus, like whether it can be contracted twice, here are the Top 5 theories you can just go ahead and rule out.
The coronavirus is a bioweapon
Fearmongers will have you believe that the coronavirus is a biological weapon intended as an act of medical warfare, or a means to control the world population. Look no further than YouTube, Reddit and Twitter for bizarre claims that link the logo for the Wuhan Institute of Virology with the Umbrella Corporation, a fictional agency in the “Resident Evil” video game franchise that spurs a zombie apocalypse.
Maybe it’s time to shut off the Xbox.
While scientists don’t yet agree on the exact origins of the virus, experts agree the strain was not genetically engineered to infect humans intentionally. Some Americans believe that the Chinese government engineered the SARS strain to attack the US, while others in China flip the equation on our government.
Either way you slice it, it’s a load of baloney.
Bill Gates is using COVID-19 to install human trackers
The Microsoft co-founder has been the target of trolls and truthers who claim the billionaire planned the pandemic for his own gain. Believers of this one think that when we eventually have a vaccine to prevent COVID-19, Gates will use the opportunity to inject trackers into everyone’s bodies.
Gates gave a speech in 2015 warning that a deadly virus is more likely to kill millions than another global war. A coincidence? Actually, yes. Far from orchestrating the crisis, the tech titan has already invested $250 million toward fighting the pandemic.
File this one next to anti-vax hype.
5G cell towers are to blame for the coronavirus
Conspiracy theorists are convinced that 5G towers, the ones that create superfast internet connections, are to blame for the viral pandemic. The looney-tunes logic goes like this: Tiny radio waves emitted by the towers are causing our bodies to become more vulnerable to the virus, or even cause the sickness outright.
Others think the cellphone infrastructure causes separate health conditions, and the pandemic is a coverup for those. In the UK, there have been more than 80 instances, according to the New York Times, of 5G-truthers vandalizing or attempting to burn down the newfangled cell towers.
Not helping the problem: Celebs including John Cusack and Woody Harrelson are on social media using their platforms to sound off in support of bunk science.
Twitter has announced it will ramp up efforts to squash this theory.
COVID-19 will usher in ‘New World Order’
Those who think the country is controlled by a group of “deep-state” agents are chalking the coronavirus up to a government coup.
Campaigns like #FilmYourHospital has led many to believe that empty waiting rooms and hospital parking lots are proof that the coronavirus is an elaborate hoax. Never mind that visitors have been banned for their own health and those of health-care workers.
While the pandemic has surely ushered in a new normal, there’s no evidence that a secret cabal has orchestrated the whole mess to gain more leverage.
And lastly, the devil worshippers
Perhaps the most out-there claim by online nuts is the idea that lockdowns are a way to round up Satanists. What better way to rid the world of blood sacrifices than by forcing everyone inside and arresting the evildoers one by one?
Credit QAnon for this piece of fiction.
The coronavirus is already a nightmare, so there’s no need to wrap it up with fake government efforts to save the world of devil-worshipping sex traffickers, who according to some whack jobs include A-listers like Oprah Winfrey and Tom Hanks.
