The Corona Virus pandemic is crazy and the news coming out about this is far from perfect. Many news stations put out statements that completely contradict made by other news stations that cover this topic, and all this makes you wonder what to believe. Today I wanted to explain some of the disputes and discuss the misconceptions about Corona Virus.
Let's just start by clearing up the "Covid-19 is just like the flu" saying which seems to be fairly popular. The saying most likely arose from people concluding that since the viruses share many of the same symptoms they are the same thing with some even conspiring that the news relabeled the Flu as a way to get more people to watch the news. However, they are quite obviously not the same if you take a look at the death rates between the two viruses. The fatality rates according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has the US death rate for Covid-19 at 3.1% as of August 18, 2020, with over 5 million deaths so far, which is quite a significant number. However, the Flu fatality rate for last year is only 34,200 deaths which rather small in comparison to the 5 million COVID deaths.
The next misconception I wanted to clear up is that gargling bleach will somehow protect you from getting Covid-19. This one is quite obvious why you should not do this. However, some people still end up doing this and getting severely damaged mouths. I want to emphasize that gargling bleach is just not very smart, safe, and can cause some serious damage. The serious damage gargling bleach can cause is that is could permanently damage your mouth by eating away at your gums. Also, there is the fact that there is a lot of poisonous ingredients in bleach that should never be anywhere near your mouth.
The third and final misconception I wanted to clear up is that you can catch Corona Virus through the water in swimming pools. This is mostly false, and the CDC says there is no evidence for this because chlorine and bromine are in most swimming pools and it stops the virus from doing anything. However, people in swimming pools should still stay 6 feet apart as the virus could spread to others through the air when you're not actively swimming.