Hi Everyone, looks like misinformation doesn’t take a break so here we are watching a new video from an MD who is speaking lies and misinterpreting information about COVID-19. If you haven’t seen the video yet, don’t waste your time watching it. If you have seen the video or want to give correct information to someone sharing the video, please share the information below.

My first bit of feedback for her? Citation Needed.

1. Disease Statistics are flawed; 45% of people are asymptomatic, 35% have symptoms that can be dealt with at home, 15% of people require treatment in a hospital, and 5% require ventilation. Of all the people who become ill roughly 5% die [link, link].
2. For reference, flu hospitalization is 0.05% while COVID-19 hospitalization is 20% [link].
3. The immune system is blind to this disease as it is not closely related enough to the cold coronaviruses to allow for protection [link]. An immune response is not about knowing how to treat something, it’s about recognizing something strange as a threat.
4. Warm to high temperatures have been tested but depending on the solution the virus is in it can survive hours to days [link].
5. Weather may have a small affect on COVID-19’s ability to spread, but not enough that social distancing and masks are not needed [link]. For a clear counter to the idea that hot weather stops COVID-19 spread just look at the US south where temperatures are reaching peaks for the year and the spread is at its highest levels yet, no second wave necessary.
6. Just because past coronaviruses and respiratory disease have been cyclical doesn’t mean that COVID-19 will be.
7. Comorbidities are cumulative and each one adds a factor that increases the danger of COVID-19 with age, immunocompromised status, weight, heart problems, lung problems, etc. No one status means someone with COVID-19 will die, it just shifts the odds against them and there’s no guarantee that someone without comorbidities will survive [link, link].
8. Children are at less risk, not none and children without health problems have also developed this disease, not just those in vulnerable populations [link, link].
9. Any area with concentrated populations such as churches, restaurants, and workplaces can lead to spreading, not just nursing homes [link]
10. Social distancing is referenced in the bible where it is mentioned to leave the lepers by themselves to prevent the spread of leprosy [link]. A high school science experiment that showed possible effect of social distancing in 2006 but the origin of staying away from people who could be sick has early roots [link].
11. You’re worried about masks that can’t stop a respiratory droplet but don’t let you breathe? Oxygen and carbon dioxide are roughly one million times smaller than a respiratory droplet
12. Decreasing your immune response won’t change by wearing a mask, this is based off of a developmental idea of the immune system that has never been proven or disproved.
13. Wearing a mask will not decrease your immune response, this idea of an unchallenged immune system (one that doesn’t see a lot of dirt, microbes, and other things) being underdeveloped is called the hygiene hypothesis and has never been fully proven or disproven [link].
14. Surfaces are not currently a primary mode of transmission because we are cleaning them so regularly; if that were to change the chance of contracting from a surface would be increased. The primary route of transmission we can trace is people without masks being around each other, but as time passes we may get more information about other types of spread too [link].
15. “Exposure to Children” sounds like something someone who doesn’t like kids would say.
16. Children do not have lower virus amounts, rather they have equivalent loads compared to adults [link Adult, link Children].
17. The immune system seems to be part of the problem in COVID because of the over-reaction that is leading to death of COVID-19 patients [link].
18. Developing antibodies takes time [link] and is not guaranteed to stop the disease [link].
19. For 90% of the population to have herd immunity, we’ll use current numbers on a population of 1,000 people as an example. 900 people become infected to provide herd immunity for the other 100 and from those 900, 720 people are asyptomatic or have mild symptoms, 180 people are hospitalized, 45 of the people mentioned above die.
20. We’re not sure if the antibody response is strong enough to be protective from repeated infection over time [link].
21. There are many, many types of vaccines and she’s only discussing a single type called an attenuated vaccine; other types just use protein, some are made from other viruses with the one you want to create a vaccine for stuck on like legos, for more details read here: link.
22. HIV, Ebola, Norovirus, Herpes show a HUGE range of viruses and none are respiratory spreaders; mentioned Coxsackieviruses is a family of viruses that contains polio to which we do have very effective vaccines against.
23. Hydroxychloroquine has not been shown to have any benefit across multiple studies [link].
24. There are people without robust immune systems that fall under the umbrella label of immunocompromised. This can be because of a genetic problem, medication, an organ recipient, cancer treatment, and more. Just because they have a condition doesn’t mean they’re doomed to be home bound for the duration of the pandemic.
25. Vitamin C does not significantly help fight colds [link].
26. If Catholics can broadcast Easter Mass for people to watch at home, you can worship at home.
27. At least she advocates using tissues…
28. And then, she’s talking about not using masks again which goes against the current consensus [link].
29. More unfounded information about using masks.
30. The “old normal” has lead to OVER half a million deaths (543,651 lives gone across all age groups and nationalities) and a full return to normal will bring nothing but More death.

We can not just “Continue back to business”. We need to wear masks, social distance, and stay home to prevent more deaths due to COVID-19. The sooner we do this the sooner it will be safe to resume more normal activities like spending time in parks and watching baseball.

So for the love of sports, freedom, and social gatherings, don’t spread misinformation.
-Your friendly, neighborhood scientist

• Collateral Science
• COVID19