Fake News: Garlic and Ginger Cures Coronavirus
Introduction
After the first wave of Covid-19, people everywhere were willing to try anything to get out of this global pandemic. A misleading viral post (on Facebook) made by “Camilah K Hadji Abdullah” on June 9 led people to believe that garlic and ginger would help you not catch the Coronavirus. The “The Rappler” website was one of the first to report how false this information was. The further stated how at this moment, there has been no cure for the Coronavirus. They also get their news from the “World Health Organization.” (“WHO” is a trusted resource.)
Fact-Checking
To continue, there have been multiple resources that have proven this statement made by Abdullah to be false. The BBC reports that “while it is ‘a healthy food that may have some antimicrobial properties’, there’s no evidence that eating garlic can protect people from the new coronavirus.” This information proves that even though people use garlic and ginger to help while sick, neither of them is beneficial when it comes to Corona. Many cultures are known for making garlic or ginger tea to use when they are sick. So this misleading post really caught people from different backgrounds.
Refuting The Claim
Furthermore, we can trust websites like Qappler, BBC, and CNBC to give out the correct information and to tell us when fake news is starting to spread on the internet. For example, “CNBC” explained that, “ Fake alerts and posts circulating on social media, often claiming to be from the WHO or a national health ministry.” This information proves that the only reason people are believing what these scammers are saying is because they are pretending to be a trusted organization.
This tweet made by the ‘World Health Organization” can be trusted because they are the ones researching what can and can’t be done to cure COVID. They shared why some people may think eating garlic may help, but they use their research and studies to show why that information is false.
Also, we can go on the CDC website anytime to see if they have put any updates on COVID information if we feel like we have spotted fake news. This is a link to updates made by the CDC:
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home
Conclusion
In conclusion, since the start of the pandemic, there have been fake news articles being created. Social media makes fake news articles more accessible since everyone has the freedom to post whatever they like. The only way we can stop the spread of fake news about coronavirus is by going to reliable sources like the CDC or BBC is seeing if they have any evidence about the false information that has been put on the internet.
Now in 2021, we have the first Covid-19 vaccine which does not prevent us from getting the virus but limits our symptoms.
Work Cited
Turak, Natasha. “No, garlic won’t protect you from coronavirus: WHO pushes back on rampant misinformation.” CNBC.com, 4 Feb. 2020, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/04/who-pushes-back-on-coronavirus-misinformation-and-bogus-cure-claims.html
Tantuco, L Vernise. “FALSE: Heat, garlic, ginger can prevent COVID-19.” Rappler.com, 23 Jun. 2020, https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/fact-check/heat-garlic-ginger-cure-covid-19
Reality Check Team. “Coronavirus: The fake health advice you should ignore.” BBC.com, 8 Mar. 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51735367