Is it true that you cannot catch the novel coronavirus, as a viral video suggests? No, that's not true: Viruses are contagious. The video is filled with inaccuracies and medically false information. Lead Stories reached out to a medical doctor in Atlanta who called the video "total garbage."
The claims appeared in a post (archived here) published on Facebook by Tree Nursery Khemis on April 2, 2020, under the title "Why You CANNOT and Will NEver 'Catch' Coronavirus." It opened:
Allright here we go! YouTube has taken down the video of Tom Barnett.
This goes to show how most of the platforms are censoring.There is a mass mirroring upload effort being setup now,
everyone is invited to mass upload and share the video.Here is the video in this post, let's see how long it will survive here.
And here is a download link if you wish to share and upload it yourself.
Users on social media only saw this:
According to The Daily Examiner newspaper in Australia, the poster is Tom Barnett, an anti-vaccine proponent.
He is not a medical doctor, nor does he have a Ph.D., and he admits as much at the beginning of the video, where he tells viewers he was reading and writing before he started school. Later, he said, he scored so high on his IQ test that people thought he had cheated.
Even so, Lead Stories consulted with someone who did get his medical degree, Dr. Thomas Walker, M.D., an ear, nose & throat specialist based in Atlanta, Georgia. Walker reviewed the video and the claims being shared and said:
His logic is that a virus is not a live organism, and because it's not a live organism, it cannot be contagious. For instance, look at hepatitis. If it were contagious, how come it's just affecting the liver and not the brain and not the heart, and if it's confined to one organ in your body, do you really think it can go between two people, let alone two species? It's just complete nonsense.
Walker said while it's true that a virus is not a live organism, "Whether or not an agent is alive is irrelevant to the ability to be contagious."
Walker offered several examples of viruses that are all contagious, including HIV, chickenpox, shingles, and herpes. For instance, if someone has unprotected sex with another person who is HIV-positive, he or she can "catch" HIV.
Another example, infectious mononucleosis, which is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus, has been commonly known as the "kissing disease" because teenagers can unknowingly transmit it through saliva.
Walker concluded:
A virus is clearly contagious. It is evidence-based medicine. This is what the science shows.
In the video, Barnett also said the flu is viral, and the cold is bacterial. But Walker said that is simply false:
Most colds are actually viral. The common cold is the rhinovirus. The vast majority of colds, which he claimed in the video are bacterial, is simply not true. Most colds, not just the flu, are also viral.
Barnett goes on to claim that the only way to catch a virus is to have it injected in your bloodstream, which is perhaps why he advocates against vaccines or flu shots. He goes on to call the novel coronavirus a pandemic using "air quotes" and suggests that people ignore the social distancing guidelines.
The Daily Examiner reported that the video was viewed more than 186,000 times before YouTube took it down. However, it's still being shared on Facebook, as of this writing.
The novel coronavirus is a viral respiratory illness that scientists say is transmitted through person-to-person contact. This is why, among other things, local municipalities around the world have locked areas down or have issued stay-at-home guidelines. Also, officials in nations spanning the globe have urged people to maintain physical distance to curb the spread, and the Trump administration has started recommending that people wear face masks or coverings in public.
As of April 4, 2020, more than 60,000 deaths have been blamed on the pandemic.
Barnett's claims are dangerous, illogical and medically unsound, according to Walker. They join a growing list of misinformation circulating online about the coronavirus. Here are some other fact checks by Lead Stories you may want to check out:
- Fact Check: Black People Are NOT Immune To The Dangers Of Coronavirus
- Fact Check: 60 Democrats Did NOT Vote Against Coronavirus Stimulus Bill
- Fact Check: Photos Do NOT Show People Falling Dead Of COVID-19 On Italy's Streets
- Fact Check: Coronavirus Test DOES Require Swab To Be Inserted Clear Through Nasal Passage
- Fact Check: Sky News Video About Coronavirus Victims In Italian Hospital Did NOT Get Taken Down
- Fact Check: Using A Sauna Or Hairdryer Will NOT Kill Coronavirus
- Fact Check: Helicopters Are NOT Spraying Disinfectants To Try To Eradicate Coronavirus
- Fact Check: Tanks NOT Arriving In San Diego, NO Martial Law
- Fact Check: Massachusetts State Police DO Warn Of Possible Scam Related To Coronavirus
- Fact Check: NOT A Photo Of Hundreds Of Coronavirus Dead In Italy
- Fact Check: Coronavirus Cases In U.S. NOT Linked To 5G Rollout
- Fact Check: Joe Biden Did NOT Test Positive For Coronavirus, As African Hoax Website Claims
- Fact Check: Homeland Security Is NOT Preparing To Mobilize The National Guard To Combat Coronavirus
- Fact Check: Italy Has NOT Mandated No Treatment Of All Elderly With Coronavirus
- Fact Check: A Banana A Day Does NOT Keep The Coronavirus Away
- Fact Check: 15 Minutes In Sauna Will NOT Kill The Coronavirus
- Fact Check: A Dog Vaccine Can NOT Be Used To Inoculate People Against Coronavirus
- Fact Check: The CDC Is NOT Warning People The Morel Mushroom Increases Coronavirus Risk By 200%
- Fact Check: Baby Formula NOT Necessarily Being Shipped For Free During Coronavirus Outbreak
- Fact Check: Train Was NOT Marked With "COVID-19" On Its Side
- Fact Check: NOT 10,000 Deaths In Virus Outbreak in Michigan, Washington, Idaho, North Dakota, Missouri, Mississippi
- Fact Check: CDC Did NOT Recommend Men Shave Their Beards To Protect Against Coronavirus
- Fact Check: Florida Man NOT Arrested For Robbery Using Cough As A Weapon
- Fact Check: Lysol Products Can Kill Older Strains Of Coronavirus, But Tests Have NOT Scientifically Proven They Kill Novel Coronavirus
- Fact Check: Hair Weaves And Lace Front Wigs Made In China NOT Likely To Contain Coronavirus
- Fact Check: Scientists Did NOT Discover That Cocaine Kills Coronavirus
- Fact Check: NO Evidence Coronavirus Is Bioweapon Leaked From Wuhan Lab
- Fake News: Six Coronavirus Cases NOT Confirmed In Wichita, Kansas (Or Several Other U.S. Cities)
- Fake News: 20 Million Chinese Did NOT Convert To Islam, And It Was NOT Proven That Coronavirus Epidemic Did Not Afflict Muslims
- Fake News: NO Evidence To Support Claim From Bioweapons Expert Who Says Coronavirus Is Biological Warfare Weapon
- Fake News: Popping Bubble Wrap Does NOT Expose People To Coronavirus
- Fake News: Data From Windy.com Does NOT Show Massive Release Of Sulfur Dioxide Gas Near Wuhan
- Fake News: Latest Research Published By Chinese Scientists Did NOT Say Coronavirus Will Render Most Male Patients Infertile
- Fake News: NO Proof That High-Rise Buildings Have Become Human Incinerators To Combat Coronavirus