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        <title><![CDATA[Coronavirus conspiracy theories: Bill Gates and 5G]]></title>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Tighten your tinfoil hat.</p><p>Ever since the coronavirus was discovered, misinformation has spread as quickly as the deadly disease.</p><p>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.</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen=""  width="618" height="348" frameborder="0" data-src="//players.brightcove.net/4137224153001/ed38fae1-4db1-4308-8095-399a04010bc1_default/index.html?videoId=6151891642001" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=="></iframe><p>Some bad actors are even trying to make a buck off the conjecture, peddling bogus cures such as black cat “paste” or <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8234165/California-doctor-charged-fraud-selling-COVID-19-Treatment-Packs.html" target="_blank">$4,000 COVID “treatment packs.”</a> As yet, there is no cure for the coronavirus.</p><p>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.</p><h2><strong>The coronavirus is a bioweapon</strong></h2><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><noscript><img src="https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/conspiracies-38.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=915" alt="close up shot of warning sign"/></noscript><img class="lazyload" src='data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20210%20140%22%3E%3C/svg%3E' data-src="https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/conspiracies-38.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=915" alt="close up shot of warning sign"/><figcaption>Getty Images/iStockphoto</figcaption></figure><p>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 <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/resident-evil-umbrella-coronavirus/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wuhan Institute of Virology with the Umbrella Corporation,</a>&nbsp;a fictional agency in the “Resident Evil” video game franchise that spurs a zombie apocalypse.</p><p>Maybe it’s time to shut off the Xbox.</p><p>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.</p><p>Either way you slice it, it’s a load of baloney.</p><h2><strong>Bill Gates is using COVID-19 to install human trackers</strong></h2><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><noscript><img src="https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/conspiracies-35.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=915" alt="Bill and Melinda Gates."/></noscript><img class="lazyload" src='data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20210%20140%22%3E%3C/svg%3E' data-src="https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/conspiracies-35.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=915" alt="Bill and Melinda Gates."/><figcaption>Bill and Melinda GatesGetty Images for Global Citizen</figcaption></figure><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>File this one next to anti-vax hype.</p><h2><strong>5G cell towers are to blame for the coronavirus</strong></h2><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><noscript><img src="https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/conspiracies-39.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=915" alt="contract crew from Verizon installs 5G telecommunications "/></noscript><img class="lazyload" src='data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20210%20140%22%3E%3C/svg%3E' data-src="https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/conspiracies-39.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=915" alt="contract crew from Verizon installs 5G telecommunications "/><figcaption>REUTERS</figcaption></figure><p>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.</p><p>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, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/technology/coronavirus-5g-uk.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to the New York Times</a>, of 5G-truthers vandalizing or attempting to burn down the newfangled cell towers.</p><p>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.</p><p>Twitter has announced it will ramp up efforts to squash this theory.</p><h2><strong>COVID-19 will usher in ‘New World Order’</strong></h2><p>Those who think the country is controlled by a group of “deep-state” agents are chalking the coronavirus up to a government coup.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><h2><strong>And lastly, the devil worshippers</strong></h2><p>Perhaps the most out-there claim by online nuts is the idea that lockdowns are a way to <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/939xwy/neonazis-and-conspiracy-theorists-are-seizing-upon-the-nova-scotia-shooting" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">round up Satanists</a>. What better way to rid the world of blood sacrifices than by forcing everyone inside and arresting the evildoers one by one?</p><p>Credit QAnon for this piece of fiction.</p><p>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.</p>]]></content:encoded>
                <dc:creator><![CDATA[GAGmen]]></dc:creator>
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