5G spreads the new coronavirus? Nonsense rumors emerge

Will 5G spread the new coronavirus? This seemingly absurd news has spread more and more widely around the world, and even in the UK and the Netherlands, 5G signal towers have been set on fire and deliberately destroyed. How do people believe such nonsensical rumors?

Text/Reporter Zhao Tianyu Editor/Liu Zhao

New Media Editor/Chen Xuanzhi

【Key points】

gossip:

Thomas Cowan, an American doctor, claimed that 5G caused the spread of the new coronavirus. The reason why Africa does not have the new coronavirus is because Africa does not have 5G, and the reason why the new coronavirus broke out in Wuhan is because Wuhan is the first city in the world to commercialize 5G.

the truth:

Regarding the transmission route of the new coronavirus, the World Health Organization has long publicly stated that the virus is transmitted from person to person through tiny droplets, which are produced when patients sneeze, cough or exhale, and can survive on surfaces for hours, which has nothing to do with electromagnetic wave transmission. The first country in the world to commercialize 5G is South Korea, and the first batch of 5G services are mainly in seven cities including Seoul and Busan, not Wuhan, Hubei.

Will 5G networks spread the new coronavirus? Recently, this rumor, which seems extremely absurd to us, has spread in many countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. On European and American social networks, there are also many people who believe and spread the rumor that "5G causes the new coronavirus", and even many celebrities have forwarded it. With the spread of the new coronavirus epidemic, the rumor has a tendency to spread more and more widely.

According to the latest news, following the UK, the Netherlands has also seen 5G signal towers being set on fire and vandalized. Some people even planned larger-scale protests against 5G through social media. So, how did a seemingly nonsensical and absurd conclusion become a rumor that spread throughout the world? What are the characteristics of rumor propagation in the face of epidemics and disasters?

Trouble comes from the mouth

The reason why this nonsensical rumor has spread widely, in addition to the objective factor of the spread of the new coronavirus in Europe and the United States, is that it came from the mouth of an "expert" and is related to the 5G electromagnetic waves that have frequently made headlines before.

On March 12, local time, at a health summit held in Arizona, USA, a doctor named Thomas Cowen claimed in his speech that 5G caused the spread of the new coronavirus.

He also vowed that the reason why there is no new coronavirus in Africa is because there is no 5G in Africa, and the reason why the new coronavirus broke out in Wuhan is because Wuhan is the world's first city to commercialize 5G.

▲Screenshot of Thomas Cowen’s speech

Even more sensational is that Thomas Cowen also linked the new coronavirus to the 1918 Spanish flu. He said: "All viruses in human history are transmitted by electromagnetic waves. The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic coincided with the global introduction of radio."

As for why radio can spread viruses, Thomas Cowen also has his own explanation: "Radio waves can reduce human immunity. People living near 5G base stations will be affected by 5G electromagnetic waves for a long time, which will lead to low immunity and make them more vulnerable to viruses."

Why did Thomas Cowen's remarks cause such a big response? This is closely related to Cowen's identity: According to reports, Cowen is not only a doctor, but also served as vice president of the American Association of Physicians of Humanistic Medicine and a founding board member of the Weston Price Foundation.

But is Cowan really an angel in white who saves lives and heals the wounded? Judging from the current public information, it is obviously not. According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Cowan is currently being punished by the California Medical Board because he once prescribed unauthorized drugs to patients without seeing them.

In addition, he has published several books that are contrary to traditional medical views, such as opposing child immunization. He even has a special website to promote such books and drugs, and has the temperament of a "quack doctor" and a "health product salesman."

5G base station radiation is lower

5G causes weather forecasts to become invalid, 5G causes cancer, 5G causes blindness, 5G base stations have greater radiation... Rumors about 5G have been circulating since 2018. This time, 5G, which is "keeping pace with the times", has unexpectedly taken advantage of the new coronavirus.

It is not difficult to find out from studying these rumors that they all point to one point without exception: the electromagnetic wave technology of 5G communication.

The fifth generation of mobile communication technology uses millimeter waves, which are characterized by fast propagation speed and high bandwidth. However, the laws of physics tell us that when the transmission power remains unchanged, the shorter the wavelength, the shorter the propagation distance. Therefore, micro base stations are the key to 5G technology. The use of micro base stations can bring better mobile and wireless coverage to end users, while helping service providers better manage data traffic and spectrum.

Will 5G base stations bring radiation? The answer is naturally no. Occam's razor, a popular science expert and communications teacher, said that the farther the base station is, the greater the radiation exposure. The characteristics of 5G are high frequency and poor propagation characteristics. More base stations are needed per unit area. Therefore, compared with 4G base stations, the radiation of 5G base stations is lower.

What is really harmful to the human body is ionizing radiation, not electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic radiation may have an impact on the human body called thermal effect, but this value is also controllable, and each country has strict standards. Take a mobile phone as an example. A mobile phone continuously emits electromagnetic waves, and the final temperature rise is only 0.153 degrees, which is much lower than the 0.3 degree temperature rise of playing basketball. Therefore, electromagnetic radiation is safe.

▲5G base station burned down by arson in the UK

In addition to the errors in scientific principles, Cowen's views are also untenable in terms of factual evidence. The first country in the world to commercialize 5G is South Korea, and the first batch of 5G services were mainly in seven cities including Seoul and Busan, not Wuhan, Hubei. In terms of the African epidemic, according to epidemic data released by Johns Hopkins University, as of April 13, more than 15,000 people in Africa have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and more than 800 people have died. Among the 55 African countries, 54 have confirmed cases.

In fact, regarding the transmission route of the new coronavirus, the World Health Organization has long publicly stated that the virus is transmitted from person to person through tiny droplets. Droplets are produced when patients sneeze, cough or exhale, and can survive on the surface for hours. This has nothing to do with electromagnetic wave propagation, and there is no evidence that viral infection is proportional to human immunity.

Why superstition triumphs over science

An intriguing phenomenon is that in contemporary Europe, where the economy and technology are highly developed, why can a rumor that seems completely unreliable be spread so widely?

According to the latest real-time statistics from the World Health Organization, there are now more than 1.84 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, with more than 100,000 deaths, including 940,000 cases in Europe, accounting for almost half of the global epidemic. Considering the actual area, Europe is becoming a "sub-center" of COVID-19 infection outside the United States.

In contrast, in European countries, the British Prime Minister proposed the theory of herd immunity when the epidemic broke out; Spain, France and many other countries adopted passive prevention and control measures at the beginning of the epidemic. As a result, British Prime Minister Boris himself was diagnosed with COVID-19 and was once sent to the ICU ward; the number of infections in Spain, France and other countries exceeded 100,000 in a short period of time, and the growth rate showed no signs of slowing down. The turning point is also far away. Herd immunity has actually turned into "herd panic."

In addition, some immature views and blind forwarding by scholars and celebrities have also exacerbated the spread of rumors to a certain extent, creating a bad impression and impact on the general public. A research institute at Oxford University found that 20% of the new coronavirus rumors were spread by celebrities or politicians. Even US President Trump himself publicly stated in early March that the new coronavirus is "flu" and the mortality rate is less than 1%...

Guo Ke, dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Shanghai International Studies University, believes that the general environment of social panic has given rumors a huge space to spread, and at the same time, rumors are constantly exaggerated and distorted during their spread. This puts greater pressure on the public, causing greater panic, and then falls into the chain of "believing in rumors - causing panic - accelerating the spread of rumors."

▲In early March, Trump said in a telephone interview that he intuitively believed that the mortality rate of COVID-19 was less than 1%.

Liu Huajie, a professor at the Center for Science and Society Research at Peking University, believes that it is not surprising that such rumors appear in Europe and the United States, where citizens have a high level of scientific literacy and a relatively developed economy and society, and many people believe them to be true. He explained that ordinary people's understanding and judgment of things have both rational and irrational sides. Some people with high education and a certain social status will also believe and spread rumors. This is a "weakness" of human nature. Especially in the face of disasters and epidemics, rumors also take advantage of these conditions very well, and have always existed since ancient times.

"On the one hand, the general public should improve their scientific literacy, enhance their learning and understanding of scientific knowledge, and avoid becoming 'irrational' people." Liu Huajie suggested that on the other hand, relevant laws and regulations should be further improved, and rumor mongers, and even those who have a bad influence, should be severely investigated and punished accordingly to cut off the channels for the spread of rumors.

The good news is that more and more Europeans have realized that 5G spreading the coronavirus is outright fake news, and many social media are taking action. Facebook said it will verify the authenticity of relevant arguments, and YouTube also said it would remove videos linking 5G and COVID-19 to avoid misleading more audiences.

Carnegie, the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, once said that fear is mostly caused by ignorance and uncertainty. But as the world fights the COVID-19 pandemic, as the World Health Organization has said, we should "need facts, not fear", "need science, not rumors", and "need unity, not stigmatization". Only in this way can we truly defeat the epidemic and resume normal production and life.

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