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EDITORIAL: Conspiracy theories are hurting us all, Squamish

There is no doubt that the restrictions due to the pandemic are causing tensions in Squamish and beyond. Recent Squamish RCMP briefs reference cops being called to handle unruly customers who don’t want to don a mask.
conspiracy theories

There is no doubt that the restrictions due to the pandemic are causing tensions in Squamish and beyond. Recent Squamish RCMP briefs reference cops being called to handle unruly customers who don’t want to don a mask. One person even damaged a business.

RCMP also point to “a large number of mental health calls... that ranged from checking on someone to those in serious mental health crises.”

What isn’t helping any of this is the doubt in medical professionals being sowed by some locals who repeat conspiracy theories.

Let’s be clear: those who are fighting the precautions are in the minority.

Look around Squamish and the vast majority of us are doing a good job with taking precautions — social distancing and wearing masks.

Those of us who respect the science and medical professionals have to stand up to those few who spread misinformation, or we may not ever fully beat this virus.

A U.S. study published in October in Social Science & Medicine found that those who believed the early conspiracy theories, later didn’t follow public health recommendations, leading to the further spread of COVID-19.

Some are dangerously purporting that vitamin and mineral supplements can cure COVID-19.

The World Health Organization confirms this is not true.

 

FACT: Vitamin and mineral supplements cannot cure COVID-19. WHO is coordinating efforts to develop and evaluate medicines to treat COVID-19.

Posted by World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday, September 28, 2020

Of course, vitamins and minerals, are important for us all, but they do not cure a virus. Full stop.

If people are relying solely on supplements and not following other precautions, that is dangerous for us all.

Another misnomer heard in Squamish this week is that vaccines aren’t needed here because China “recovered” from COVID-19 without them.

“We don’t talk about that,” Squamish posters have written under our stories about the upcoming immunization drive.

Mainland China has reported more than 86,600 cases of COVID and 4,600 deaths as of this week. And provincial governments there are placing orders for the vaccine, so the premise that it is a COVID-free zone is false.

Assuming these numbers are correct and the virus is relatively beaten back in China, the question remains: why?

The answer is likely that the population was very strictly controlled from the start, and people listened to the health orders.

Wuhan was placed into a strict lockdown that lasted 76 days.

Public transit was suspended.

In some areas, only one member of each household was allowed to leave the home every couple of days to collect groceries and other necessary supplies.

Citizens wore masks.

“Drones equipped with echoing loudspeakers rebuked Chinese citizens who were not following the rules,” according to an article in The Lancet in October.

People with even mild symptoms were forcibly taken to special hospitals and kept there — away from families and friends — until they were better.

In other words, the restrictions were much harsher and people did what they were told.

Thus, it is ironic that conspiracy theorists resistant to COVID-19 restrictions point to China’s recovery as proof that vaccines aren’t needed here.

Do we want those kinds of restrictions? Most would argue our less invasive orders are better overall, and yet many resist even those.

Another refrain of the anti-masker and anti-vaxxer is: “How many die of the flu each year?”

This is meant to downplay COVID-19.

According to the federal government’s FluWatch annual report for the 2018-19 influenza season, there were 3,657 influenza-associated hospitalizations, 613 ICU admissions and 224 deaths last flu season in Canada. (We also have a yearly flu vaccine, it should be noted.)

So far, we’ve seen 430,000 cases of COVID-19, with 25,060  in hospital, more than 4,800 in ICU and 12,867 deaths.

Of course, some can’t wear masks, and we should respect them, but they are in the extreme minority.

For the rest of us, we are being asked by people with decades of medical training to: wear a mask, press pause on gathering, wash our hands, social distance and, if able, to get a vaccine.

This is a health issue. Not a rights issue.

If you can, but won’t do those things, it may be valuable to reflect on a viral tweet by JL Barrow: “How privileged is your life where wearing a mask is the most oppressed you’ve ever felt?”

And let’s stop the spread of dangerous misinformation so we can get back to the things we miss sooner rather than later.

If you see something you know not to be true on social media, report it.

The WHO has links for how to report misinformation on each platform.

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