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· Published on March 20, 2020 at 12:51 p.m.
As coronavirus is spreading in Paris, it’s hard to keep calm and know what to do with all the news published on the matter. Sortiraparis.com sorts things out between masked fake news and essential news to answer the threat effectively.
This is the new threat shaking the news world. While the coronavirus pandemic is spreading in France and everywhere in the world, following its spread up and the fear it triggers bring a share of inaccuracies and imprecisions. Let’s have a look on rumors, inventions and real news you have to know today.
To be honest, there are a lot of rumors and fake news going on right now. Since France has moved on to stage 3 of the coronavirus pandemic on Saturday March 14, 2020, as announced by Health Minister Olivier Véron, the only true news going on are those shared by the governments on the dedicated websites or the Agence France Presse. Fake methods to avoid contamination are the most shared along with the unmissable conspiracy theories.
- "The Institut Pasteur has patented a vaccine against coronavirus in 2004": this is the most common conspiracy theory on social networks. Behind it, a video that came viral quickly about the virus against the previous Sras epidemic that broke out in 2002.
- "The State plans to send the Army to fight against the epidemic": even though this option is not totally out, posts on social netwroks are about a decree released in the Journal Officiel on Sunday March 15th. Yet, it's a decree to ease the management of the army going to work for other organisms. So far, no tank on the horizon.
- “Coronavirus has no natural origin”: in the category of big fake news, conspiracy theories are popping. First, those about the origins saying that the virus is only the result of a laboratory experiment, concealed by the Chinese government. Many scientists release proves as for a natural origin of the virus to thwart rumors.
- “The United-States of America have a miraculous vaccine for many years”: a wave of messages of that kind has washed over the social networks. Several medias endeavored to bring scientific proves there’s no vaccine so far, since the “coronavirus” words is the name of a virus category and not only Covid-19 which is one of its many variations.
- “Temperature change can eradicate the virus”: it’s undoubtedly the most famous and spread rumor so far. As the Indian Council of Medical Research says it, it’s impossible for temperature change to have any impact on the spread of the virus.
- "The Spa [Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals] is already overwhelmed with many abandoned animals": behind this rumor, a Facebook post shared about 30,000 times saying that SPA centers are already full. The president has already refuted these allegations and warned a risk of limit capacity because of the closings to the public.
- “Covid-19 survives a long time on objects”: second most spread misinformation on the social networks. If coronavirus is highly contagious, it can survive 3 hours on an object touched by a carrier. Parcels coming from risky areas are not active virus carriers. Yet, washing your hands and paying attention to the objects you touch remain essential.
- “Facemasks protect from a contamination”: of course, we had to finish with the rumor blockbuster, with the infamous facemask. As the French government has been hammering home for the past few days, protective facemasks do not protect you from being potentially contaminated, in comparison with washing your hands that is still as essential. These facemasks are only useful if you carry Covid-19 so that it prevents you from contaminating other people. No symptom, no mask!
Moreover, it seems appropriate to share two informative websites set up by the French government and health authorities. If you have any doubt as for the truth of what you read or the news you’ve heard, meet on https://www.gouvernement.fr/info-coronavirus and on https://www.santepubliquefrance.fr/ for a report updated daily on the epidemiological situation of Covid-19 in France.
