There is a lot of misinformation about the coronavirus online. It’s important that you know what’s fact and what’s fiction. After checking out various blogposts, Facebook posts, and Instagram suggestions, here’s what the experts tell us is factual and what are just apocryphal meanderings, which can often be more harmful than helpful.

Does ibuprofen encourage or spread the coronavirus?

Medical experts from round the world have dispelled this notion, originally published in France. There is no correlation between taking ibuprofen and putting yourself at higher risk for the infection. Furthermore, it does not exacerbate the severity of the disease once you’re contracted the virus. Although posts on the internet state that many patients who have died had ibuprofen in their systems, this does not mean it caused the problem or added to any complications.

If I smoke, do I heighten my risk of complications from Covid-19?

Yes. The virus infects the lower respiratory tract… your airways and your lungs. People who smoke or vape are already at greater risk for pneumonia than the general population because these habits weaken the lung’s ability to stave off infections. Shortness of breath is one of the hallmarks of Covid-19, caused by the Coronavirus. Patients who smoked were four times as likely to have complications from compromised lungs, as non-smokers.

Do we actually know how the virus infects us?

Thanks to autopsies conducted all over China, we now understand the behavior of this virus. The virus quickly moves from the upper respiratory area (where it first entered the body through the nose, mouth, etc.) and travels into the airways where it coats them with thick mucus and blocks air from getting into the lungs. Oxygen from ventilators often has a tough time navigating congested airways, and without sufficient oxygen, patients face the critical task of breathing.

There’s been confusion about how the virus spreads… what’s fact?

The respiratory virus spreads primarily through droplets generated when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It can also be transmitted when someone with a runny nose wipes the discharge with his hands, and then begins to touch surfaces (whether it’s your grocery store shopping bag, that canned food item you pick up off the shelf, or by shaking hands with you)… and then you touch your face. Comparing it to the Ebola virus, which is far more deadly, but less easily transmitted, the coronavirus is often airborne, whereas Ebola is transmitted primarily through blood and bodily fluids… much like the AIDS virus.

There are all sorts of rumors about what to ingest to prevent the virus, and some suggestions are downright harmful. What’s what?

Although washing your hands with hydrogen peroxide or isopropyl alcohol have been highly recommended, there have been internet suggestions about ingesting these items. Because hydrogen peroxide comes in many different strengths, and there is nothing at the moment that proves ingesting this staves off the virus, it is foolhardy to drink this cleansing agents. So-called “super water” cures have landed people in emergency rooms, suffering from heart attacks and strokes. Alternative medicine practices such as this can be absolutely dangerous. As for isopropyl alcohol, this is not the conventional alcohol you’ll find in beer, wine or hard liquor. Rubbing alcohol is metabolized differently in your body, and can have potentially fatal consequences.

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