Antibiotics, sunshine, and cold air sound great but won’t really help.
It’s not just the scientists: we are all looking for a cure. From eating more garlic to quitting smoking, getting out for exercise, losing weight, and stocking up on vitamins, some people are using the pandemic as a wake-up call to engage in healthier living. But while some efforts are worth it, like Boris Johnson, the UK’s prime minister, getting a personal trainer to lose weight after a threatening stint in an intensive care unit with coronavirus in April, others are literally a waste of time. Don’t be duped!
Here are five so-called “treatments” for COVID-19 that may sound engaging, but unfortunately will not cure or prevent the disease.
Avoiding 5G Networks
This may sound outlandish, but there are currently rumors spreading online stating COVID-19 can travel through mobile networks and across radio waves. Yes, it does sound like a wonderful idea for a blockbuster script that someone should be writing as we speak, but that’s as far as the story goes: your nearby cinema, once the pandemic is over.
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COVID-19 is very contagious but it certainly cannot travel through 5G mobile networks. Here’s proof: countries without these networks have COVID-19. If you are going to be wary of 5G technology, let it be for other reasons. COVID-19 can’t spread through 5G and avoiding this technology will not protect you. Wearing a mask and washing your hands helps, however.
Getting Lots of Sunshine
It is true that getting some sun each day is good for you. The sun provides you with vitamin D, and helps to regulate your internal clock, telling you what time it is and when to feel sleepy. This is something that is known to have an affect on other systems in your body, as well. But sunshine won’t cure you of COVID-19 or prevent you from catching it.
Places like Florida and India that have a lot of sunshine, have had thousands of cases of the virus. Exposure to the sun does shorten the lifespan of the virus that causes COVID-19 on surfaces, but when it comes to infecting humans, the virus can still be spread. Sunshine does not zap COVID-19 instantly.
Frolicking in the Cold and Snow
Going outside to make a snowman would be a wonderful way to kill COVID-19, if this were actually effective. Unfortunately, exposure to the cold does not cure you of the coronavirus. In fact, when the weather turns frigid, colds and flus are known to spread in populations more rapidly because people move indoors, and spend more time in closer quarters.
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Your body temperature stays the same in cold weather, if you are appropriately clothed and not suffering from hypothermia. The virus lives inside humans, and can spread through person-to-person contact.
Getting a Pneumonia Vaccine
While it is an enticing thought, pneumonia vaccines do not treat the coronavirus, or protect you from getting it. The novel coronavirus is so new there is no approved vaccine yet to treat it. It is a wise choice to get your flu vaccine this season, and your pneumonia vaccine if your doctor recommends it. These two vaccines will help protect you from falling seriously ill with other respiratory illnesses this season, which is a good idea during the pandemic. Be aware of what they do though, and their limits.
Dosing Up on Antibiotics
It would also be a wonderful world if antibiotics could treat COVID-19 but that’s the reason we are in this whole mess: they can’t. The novel coronavirus is a virus. Antibiotics only treat bacterial infections. If you are hospitalized with COVID-19 you may receive antibiotics in order to prevent a secondary bacterial infection from settling into your lungs, but this will not fight off the virus causing your initial illness.
The only way right now to prevent becoming infected with COVID-19 is to wash your hands frequently with soap, sanitize them, wear a mask when around others, and stay socially distanced. And that’s the truth.
photo credits: SNeG17/Shutterstock.com
