A viral list of questionable coronavirus tips is said to come from Stanford – it’s not

A list of questionable coronavirus tips goes viral on Facebook and Twitter, and it also spreads via email. It falsely claims to be from the Stanford Hospital board of directors and includes advice like “take a few sips of water every 15 minutes” to kill the virus. Neither of these tips has anything to do with reality; it is dangerous misinformation.

Stanford confirmed that the message was not from the university. In a statement emailed to The edgeLisa Kim, a media relations specialist at Stanford Health, said, “A widespread e-mail about COVID-19 attributed to a” board member of Stanford Hospital “contains false information. It was not from Stanford Medicine.”

Even if the virus gets into your mouth, drinking water or other fluids will flush it down your throat and into the stomach. Once there, your heartburn will kill all the virus, ”is a tip. Loren Rauch, a Los Angeles emergency room with a master’s degree in epidemiology, told Mother Jones this advice was “completely fake”.

Another tip tells people to check for the virus by holding their breath for 10 seconds. “If you successfully complete it without coughing, without discomfort, stiffness or tightness, etc., it proves that there is no fibrosis in the lungs, which in fact indicates no infection,” it adds.

Unfortunately, this is also not true. “That can check if you are anxious or have breathing problems,” Rauch said.

The message also says that the virus “hates the sun” and is not heat resistant. It can be ‘killed by a temperature as low as 26/27 degrees’ (about 78 degrees Fahrenheit). This is not completely true. “When something is exposed to sunlight, it disinfects pretty quickly, because that’s ultraviolet light, the exact same type of sanitary we use in hospitals,” said Rauch Mother Jones. “But, like,” It’s going to be a hot day today. We don’t have to worry about the corona virus, “I don’t think that’s going to work.”

I received the first-hand tips in an email from a friend who sincerely sent them to protect people. When I read that I couldn’t have a coronavirus if I could hold my breath for 10 seconds, I felt relieved. Then I felt suspicious. I remembered Adi Robertson’s advice for spotting fake news: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

So I did what one of us should do if we get the wrong information from a friend or loved one: I told my friend the tips were fake. The most reliable sources of information about the coronavirus remain the World Health Organization guidance on COVID-19, or the Centers for Disease Control’s coronavirus page.