Craig Silverman of BuzzFeed News reports a list saying its from Stanford University and other medical experts claims “that drinking water can ‘kill’ the virus” has gone viral. The list is filled with this and other bad advice about how to stop Coronavirus from infecting you.
The bogus list has been shared by many people on Twitter, Facebook, What’s app, and other social media platforms incorrectly attributing the information to a doctor at Shenzhen Hospital in China or Stanford University.
Abigail Wienberg of Mother Jones contacted Stanford’s office of communications to verify the list’s authenticity. Lisa Kim at Stanford Health Care wrote back, “The post is not from Stanford.” Kim then referred anyone who has seen the list to visit “the university’s actual coronavirus information page.”
The most repeated claim of that list is the drinking water every 15 minutes washes coronavirus “down through your throat and into the stomach. Once there, your stomach acid will kill all the virus.”
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert with Vanderbilt University, said, “[water] makes you feel better, but there is no clear indication that it directly protects you against complications.”
Dr. Loren Rauch cautions, “The new coronavirus may not show signs of infection for many days. By the time you have fever and/or cough … the lung is usually 50 percent fibrosis.”
Watch the video and learn how Ben Shapiro from The Daily Wire says you can spot bad advice about Coronavirus as well as the differences between Coronavirus and the regular flu, and when you should get tested.
