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December 18, 2020. From speculation that the coronavirus was created in a lab to hoax cures, an overwhelming amount of false information clung to COVID-19 as it circled the globe in 2020.Public health officials, fact checkers and doctors tried to quash hundreds of rumors in myriad ways. But misinformation around the pandemic has endured as vexingly as the virus itself. And with the U.S., U.K. and Canada rolling out vaccinations this month, many falsehoods are seeing a resurgence online.A look at five stubborn myths around COVID-19 that were shared this year and continue to travel

MYTH: MASKS DON’T OFFER PROTECTION FROM THE VIRUS

In fact, they do.

However, mixed messaging early on caused some confusion. U.S. officials initially told Americans they did not need to wear or buy masks, at a time when there was a shortage of N95 masks for health workers. They later reversed course, urging the public to wear cloth masks and face coverings outside.

The early messaging gave people “a little more room to take up these narratives” against wearing masks, explained Stephanie Edgerly, a communications professor at Northwestern University.

Some social media users, for example, are still circulating a video from March of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, saying people “should not be walking around with masks,” although he has since urged people to cover their faces in public. Versions of that clip have been watched millions of times on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Online claims that masks are not an effective form of protection spiked again in October after U.S. President Donald Trump and two U.S. senators contracted COVID-19 during a Rose Garden ceremony, according to media intelligence firm Zignal Labs. Social media users claimed that the coverings must not be effective because the senators wore masks at some points during the

But masks do prevent virus particles from spreading. Last month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which continues to advise Americans to wear masks, cited research that suggested masks can protect the wearer as well as other people.

MYTH: THE VIRUS WAS MAN-MADE

It was not.

Social media users and fringe websites weaved together a conspiracy theory that the virus was leaked — either accidentally or intentionally — from a lab in Wuhan, China, before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March. The falsehood was espoused by elected officials, including Trump.

The origins of the virus are far less scandalous: It likely originated in nature. Bats are thought to be the original or intermediary hosts for several viruses that have triggered recent epidemics, including COVID-19. U.S. intelligence agencies also concluded the virus is not man-made.

Yet the conspiracy theory continues to travel online, and made a resurgence in September when a Chinese virologist repeated the claim on Fox News.

MYTH: COVID-19 IS SIMILAR TO THE FLU

In fact, COVID-19 has proved to be far deadlier.

Early similarities between the symptoms of COVID-19 and influenza led many to speculate that there was not much difference between the two illnesses. Social media posts and videos viewed thousands of times online also claim that COVID-19 is no deadlier than the flu. Trump tweeted a faulty comparison between the flu and COVID-19 in March and October, as states implemented stay-at-home orders.

COVID-19 has been blamed for more than 300,000 American deaths this year, and has killed roughly 1.5 million worldwide. By comparison, the CDC estimates there are 12,000 to 61,000 flu-related deaths annually.

COVID-19 symptoms can be far more serious and persist for months. Health experts have also uncovered a range of bizarre coronavirus symptoms, from brain fog to swollen toes.

MYTH: OFFICIALS ARE EXAGGERATING COVID-19’S TOLL

They are not.

Social media users began photographing empty hospital waiting rooms earlier this year, claiming few people were sick with COVID-19. The photos and videos gained traction with the #FilmYourHospital hashtag, part of a right-wing conspiracy theory that public health officials and politicians were exaggerating COVID-19’s deadly toll. But fewer people are in waiting areas because hospitals started taking appointments virtually, canceling elective procedures and prohibiting visitors during the pandemic.

This month, a Nevada doctor’s selfie at an empty makeshift care site set up to handle additional coronavirus patients was shared online as evidence that hospitals are not full. However, the photo was taken on Nov. 12, before the site opened. It has since served at least 200 patients.

MYTH: THE VIRUS IS A PLOY TO FORCE GLOBAL VACCINATIONS

That’s not true.

Anti-vaccine supporters have been pushing this conspiracy theory since January, when some falsely claimed online that the virus had been patented by pharmaceutical companies as a scheme to cash in on the illness. Some targeted billionaire and vaccine advocate Bill Gates, claiming he was part of a global plan around COVID-19 to microchip billions of people through mass vaccinations. Gates has not threatened to microchip anyone. Instead, he suggested creating a database of people who have been inoculated against the virus.

Skepticism also has grown around the speed of vaccine development. A video viewed nearly 100,000 times on social media, for example, falsely claimed pharmaceutical companies skipped animal trials for the vaccines. In fact, the vaccines were tested on mice and macaques.

The U.K., Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have authorized Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine. The FDA will review Moderna’s shot Thursday.

Still, only about half of Americans say they are willing to get the vaccine, according to a survey this month by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Ongoing misinformation around the vaccine might drive some of that hesitancy.

“I don’t think it was one myth that caused the problem,” said Nancy Kass, deputy director for public health at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. “It’s the fact that there were many, many, many myths.”

Dec 18, 2020. Women face less severe complications and a lower risk of dying from COVID-19 than men due to the presence of hormones and chromosomes that contribute to a stronger immune response in female patients, according to a study.

The research, published in the American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, highlights how the sex differences in COVID-19 are linked to ACE2, an enzyme that acts as the receptor allowing SARS-CoV-2 virus to enter the body.

ACE2 is also key in protecting against cardiovascular, lung and kidney diseases, the researchers said. “Because of their chromosomes, women have two copies of the ACE2 gene and men have only one copy,” said senior study author Gavin Oudit, professor at the University of Alberta in Canada.

“This does not seem to make women more susceptible to COVID-19 infection, but it does protect them from the complications associated with the virus,” Oudit said. ACE2 is an X chromosome-linked gene, Oudit explained.

To avoid duplication, one X chromosome tends to be inactivated, however, due to its location ACE2 escapes inactivation. This means women have twice as many active genetic instructions to make ACE2, he said. Another gene that is twice as strong in women due to this X-inactivation escape is called Toll-like receptor seven, a key part of the innate immune system.

“The stronger presence of Toll-like receptor seven in women explains why women’s immune systems are stronger than men’s and can tolerate virus infection better, including the common cold,” said Oudit, adding “the man-cold phenomenon is real.” The study found that men face more severe illness and poorer outcomes around the world, even when women likely face more exposure to SARS-CoV-2 than men. “Due to gender issues, women face more risk, so it’s reassuring to know that their outcomes are not any worse; in fact they are clearly better than men’s,” Oudit said.

A new study by scientists determines the effectiveness of face shields in protecting the wearer against Covid-19 transmission. Shockingly enough, the results are not resounding enough for those wearing only face masks to stay protected.

In a study now published in Physics of Fluids, researchers have simulated the airflow around a face shield when someone nearby sneezes. The research was performed to “examine the risk of virus infection when a medical worker wearing a face shield is exposed to a patient’s sneeze from the front,” the study notes.

Conducted by researchers at Fukuoka University in Japan, the study analyses vortex rings, a fluid phenomenon produced through sneezing. “A vortex ring is a donut-shaped vortex that is generated by an instantaneous ejection of fluid from a circular orifice,” said Fujio Akagi, lead author of the study. “This resembles bubble rings made by dolphins.”

Akagi and his team determined what would happen when a face shield wearer is exposed to a sneeze from an infected person standing 1 meter in front of them. The end goal was to determine if face shield were enough at their own to save one from germ transmissions.

Shocking results

The study, much like several others before this one, had a shocking implication. It showcased that the microscopic droplets generated during a sneeze had a way of reaching the upper and the lower end of the face shield being worn by the person in front.

“The vortex rings generated by the sneeze capture the microscopic droplets within the sneeze and transport them to the top and bottom edges of the face shield,” said Akagi. He further explained that the droplets droplets from the sneeze travel to the face shield wearer quickly — within 0.5 to 1 second after the start of the sneeze.

“I may end up taking it on TV or having it filmed, just so that people know that I trust this science, and what I don’t trust is getting COVID,” former President Barack Obama said during a SiriusXM interview.

Through spokespeople, former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton, confirmed to CNN and ABC News that they would also get the vaccine on camera if it would help encourage Americans to get vaccinated.

On Friday, Vice President Mike Pence was vaccinated for COVID-19 during a live television event at the White House. His wife, Karen Pence, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams also received the vaccine. Adams had previously talked about vaccinating high-profile individuals, like presidents and public health officials, during an interview on “Good Morning America.” “There’s a symbolic part of someone like me getting vaccinated,” Adams said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci was also in favor. “I will get vaccinated and I will get vaccinated publicly,” Fauci told JAMA last week.

Offers to get vaccinated publicly isn’t just political theater, according to Noel Brewer, a professor of health behavior at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

While researchers believe that confidence in vaccines leads to more people getting vaccinated, increasing that confidence is tricky, Brewer explained. “What is very effective is having leaders stand up for the vaccination system and for individual vaccines,” he said. “Having them offer to get vaccinated on camera is one of the single most important things that could happen.”

The cost for each dose ranges from $3 to $37, depending on the vaccine.

Moderna, a two-dose vaccine, recently announced each dose will go for around $32 to $37.

The Pfizer vaccine, also given in two doses, is expected to cost $19.50 a dose.

Each dose for Johnson & Johnson’s two-dose vaccine will cost an estimated $10, and AstraZeneca’s two-dose vaccine could be the cheapest at just $3 to $4 a dose.

Novavax’s two-dose vaccine is estimated to be $16 a dose.

No individuals — regardless of whether they’re uninsured, have private health insurance, or have Medicare or Medicaid — will pay out of pocket for the vaccine itself, federal health officials have previously stated.

“Vaccine doses purchased with U.S. taxpayer dollars will be given to the American people at no cost,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)Trusted Source states.

Certain vaccine providers may charge an administration fee for giving the shot, but individuals can have that fee reimbursed.

“Vaccine providers can get this fee reimbursed by the patient’s public or private insurance company or, for uninsured patients, by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Provider Relief Fund,” the CDC states.