When ever we have any “health outbreak” – misleading (don’t want to use the word “rumor”) information start spreading like wildfire.
I really like to think that people who spread these “misleading” information – do this to help others.
But the reality is, if we are not a specialist on a subject (eg. medical professional) – then we should not share information about that subject. As in most cases these misleading information become more harmful than the “outbreak” itself.
For the last few days – I have been receiving information from people about corona virus . And most of these information I received, falls in to “misleading information” category.
One of the common information I receive is
“Can the corona virus be transferred through items bought from China ?”
After spending some time I was able to get some “reliable information”. Here is the summary –
- There is no evidence this is a risk (from items bought from China).
- To get infected with corona virus, we require close contact with another person.
Here is the full detail –
“There is no evidence this is a risk. Some diseases – including the coronavirus that causes Sars – can spread through surfaces contaminated by people coughing or sneezing on them.
It has not been shown this new coronavirus can do that. Even if it could, there would still be questions about whether international shipping would be a major problem.
Cold viruses tend to survive less than 24 hours outside the human body although norovirus (a severe stomach bug) can last months outside the body.
The most reassuring fact so far is that cases seem to require close contact with another person – say, a family member or healthcare worker – in order to spread. “