Yeap, world still dealing with a nasty virus. I’m in the US, where we (predictably – have you seen our healthcare system?) are the worst hit. Here are some more facts to help keep you hopefully at bay of the virus.

Masks: Wear one. Not surgical ones, though, unless you are a healthcare worker. Here is a how to guide from the CDC about making a mask out of a bandanna and hair ties.

Social distancing: Keep doing it. Most droplets from your mouth goes about 3 to 6 feet, un-masked. Here is a vid from Japan that explains why social distancing and masks are useful, to prevent possible spread

Now, the Rumor Mill, because that can be a deadly virus in and of itself.

I have heard some absurd bull, some personally and some that other friends have told me they heard themselves. Let’s break them down.

Contagion, the movie, is accurate!

I’m so glad I watched that movie for free, I’d want my money back. Heck, I want my time back. Ye Gods, that movie was horrible. Fishbourne was in it, which was nice but you could see him in The Matrix and have a better understanding of what’s going on – and a better watching experience.

There are so many inaccuracies, I’d have to do a Let’s Watch to go over all of it, I’ll probably live stream that if so because it would be a waste of space on my recorder otherwise. Maybe I’ll live tweet it, that would probably be better. Yeah, livetweet since I have not used my Twitter (@thisblackwitch) for hardly anything useful in a while. The bits I will cover here –

    • The CDC does not handle everything. Dr. Fauci, the guy you been seeing a lot and sounding sensible, is from NIH, not the CDC. Dr. Fauci is the director of NIAID (NIH shoves NI in front of just about everything. It’s their thing, the thing they do). NIAID stands for “National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases”. In NIAID, there is a section for Emerging Infectious Diseases/Pathogens, listed under “Biodefense”. Unless you are germaphobic or with a germ/clean focus of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, give their page a read.
    • The Yellow Peril in this movie is astonishing! It pretty much yokes Asian people (mainly Chinese and Hong Kong people) with “virus/contagion”. Which is super funny for a movie made by mainly White folks to say – because of their collective European heritage. Europe is commonly yoked to The Black Death/The Plague because of how nasty it knocked out the European population (estimates range from 1/3 of the population up to 60%). Everyone else nearby was also affected but not as bad – because Europe pretty much wasn’t too big on cleanliness (no, really, there was a Christian medieval belief that the Christian god would not like you since dirt comes from the soil, which comes from god and to wash it off was to rebuke god – if you’re cross-eyed reading this, imagine the look on the faces of the Jewish and Muslim populations in medieval Europe who heard this first hand … and went back to washing their hands and feet for religious practice and thus didn’t suffer nasty outbreaks). Back to the the virus at hand, virulent racism – I mean … nah, virulent racism because that’s a pretty fatal strain that makes the Coronavirus look like it shares a death rate with the common cold in comparison. Yes, the Coronavirus was spotted in China – this means the virus could have been seen anywhere – but that does not mean China is a hot bed of disease no more than England or France is a hot bed of bubonic plague. Though, it is a tad funny seeing Europe being classic racist douche to China – and, oh look! the coronavirus is hitting them worst than it did China. History really does like going in circles, huh? Posies, anyone?
    • There are so many inaccuracies! I am going to most likely suffer watching this movie on the day this post comes out and live tweet, because the movie is trash and I need to express why in absolute detail. Everyone: A fictional movie is not a documentary.

“5G cause Covid-19”

Bruh.

What?

What the fu-

HOW?!

This is literally how I imagine the conversation goes

There is no outstanding – or standing, for that matter – correlation between the 5G cell phone network and the SARS-Cov-2 (the coronavirus). First of all – SOUTH KOREA WAS THE FIRST NATION TO GET 5G A LONG TIME AGO. They been had it for the longest time. They got it April 3rd, 2019! A year ago! South Korea is NOT China! If 5G started Corona, then how come:

a) It didn’t start in South Korea?

b ) It didn’t start a year ago? Corona was spotted in roughly November by the Chinese populace.

c) Everyone was and is basically fine during EDGE, 2G, 3G, and 4G, which are all existing networks?

d) The symptoms are focused on respiratory illness, not brain or blood contamination if it was “waves”?

e)  The virus is not affecting populaces only in and around 5G networks?! T-Mobile has a 5G map, give it a gander and cross-reference it with CDC interactive coronavirus map. Note the difference? 5G isn’t everywhere, but the virus is.

None of this makes sense! And it is concerning that people are burning down cell towers. Which knocks out communication services for people all around, which is dastardly important, especially at a time like this. Don’t torch cell towers.

Coronavirus was made in a lab in China/the US!!!111!!11!1!!1!1111eleven!11!111!!!!!1!!! ZOMGZ!!!!

No. No, it wasn’t. First of all, if that were true, it would suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck to be that guy right about now because congrats, you literally screwed your own nation and everyone else. Public health-wise, economy-wise, to release an uncontrollable virus is very unwise. No one is willing to murk their career in such a glorious, you’re-probably-going-to-die-a-lot-sooner-than-you-think-because-angry-mob-and-death-penalties fashion. No one.

Second of all, the Chinese government didn’t even believe and tried to silence/discredit their own virologists when they said, “Uhhhhhhhh, there’s a virus around. A nasty one, people really should know about it. A lot. It legit looks like SARS but not? Do something???” Yeah, I doubt it was made in a Wuhan lab. If it were a bioweapon, the China would be free and clear from the virus, not turn into a hotbed that also caused social turmoil because Chinese government leadership, local and beyond, horded masks and meds for their own and not the populace. Riots broke out over there because of this exact fact. Yes, China has a marked history of murdering its own residents to keep a certain status quo – Tienanmen Square massacre and The White Terror are good examples – buuuut this is definitely different. And inb4 “China murders its own people? Man, I’m glad I’m American!”: Google “Black American History”. Nooooothing but state-mandated death that literally stretches centuries from the start of the nation to now that ranges from garden variety bombings and murders to systemic conditions.

Speaking of the US (because I heard this one a lot from folks in China on the Chinese social media I’m on), we screw over a lot of nations, not just China. Though the US and China are geo-political rivals, they also are big trading partners. One nation tanks and the other goes with it. Also, this “US made coronavirus in a lab to infect China” nonsense came roughly around the same time the Chinese government was discrediting their own scientists. Because you have to remember, Chinese media is heavy with propaganda, there’s a spin story behind just about everything. The narrative of “The US made a virus to kill us, the Great Chinese Nation” is a useful one, because Chinese media is very commonly “Us against the world”. They literally start their history to 70 years ago, not the 5,000+ years they already have on the clock. The Chinese media also said America had over 100,000 deaths back when the US had no corona cases at all to when the US only had 8 cases total, not a single fatality. Even now, as of posting time, there are only a little over 39,000 deaths in the US from Coronavirus. My friends in China were writing to me asking if there was a big ol’ death bed here back when we weren’t even struck with the virus yet because of how pervasive the incorrect news was.

Always check your sources. The virus was not made in a lab. If you see virus cabinets, that’s because scientist need them to create vaccines. You can’t make a vaccine for a virus you don’t have a pure sample of. My only issue with that is simply I’m against animal testing, I support stem cell research and advanced technology.

Drink water/exercise/pray/stick a blowdryer in your face – that will kill the virus!

None of those things work. Just wash your hands and stay away from each other. Osmosis explains in their April Corona update why these methods work. As well as why the US is sucking at them. (Seriously, why are people throwing coronavirus parties?)

 

 

Long story very short: Wash your hands, wear a mask when you’re out and about, keep your distance and stay inside. And stop hoarding toilet paper, it’s not bird flu.

Here is a nifty Social Distance Bingo board: