Dear Barb:

After weeks of isolation and hearing lots of stories about the coronavirus, I just don’t know what to believe about how or when this virus will end.  Everybody seems to have a different theory and they all believe they are right.  The most common theory I have heard and read about is that Coronavirus is caused by 5G Internet.  Apparently this theory originated when a woman created a YouTube video where she claimed that high frequencies from the 5G technology releases chemicals that are inside of your body from the use of vaccines and chemicals in foods etc. and ultimately leads to symptoms like those of Covid-19.  Another theory I read about is that the virus was created in a lab and released to the public. 

And the one that most of my friends believe is that it comes from eating bats, apparently someone in a market in China was eating soup that contained bat meat and that was the beginning of the virus.  They all seem a little weird to me, however I am choosing to self isolate because it seems to be making some sense, plus there is nowhere to go anyway.  Maybe I am just thinking too much, but I wish someone could offer some insight or truth to what is really going on.  Any suggests on how to find some peace in this chaotic situation?  

Thanks, Mackenzie.

Hey Mackenzie:

Great question.  There are many theories about where the virus came from and the one that seems to come closest to any type of validity is the bat theory.  Scientists have discovered a similar virus to the covid-19 in bats, but the question remains, how did it get from bat to human and was there an intermediate host.  That will be something for the scientist to figure out; our job is to prevent the spread.

As for the other theories you mentioned they have all been debunked.  USA Today published an article on March 21 explaining why the 5G theory has no validity  and its well worth the read.  As far as the claim about the virus being created by scientists in a lab in India, and that the findings were circulated through social media, this has been examined by several scientists who study viruses and found to be totally unproven.  Depending on your belief system many people have decided to accept one of these theories as truth.  My suggestion is to follow the advice provided by professionals and health care officials, who have much more knowledge than us about this topic.  This seems to be working to a certain degree as a large number of Canadians have followed this advice, whereas President Trump was slow to get his people on the bandwagon, and the numbers show the difference  in the number of cases in the US as opposed to Canada.  You can only keep doing what you are doing and keep in mind that this will end and we will go back to living our lives.  Thanks for your letter, and stay healthy, Mackenzie.