THE NAKED CITY – QUACK CURES FOR CORONA
About a week ago an elderly gentleman at the railway station in Katoomba (1040 metres above sea level) assured me there was nothing to worry about with the Corona virus at this elevation – that the bacteria could not survive over 1,000 metres. Rather than argue the point I suggested he keep that revelation very quiet unless he wanted thousands of Sydneysiders descending on the upper Blue Mountains to seek sanctuary.
That was just one of the numerous snippets of misinformation that have been endemic since the pandemic started. Whilst there is a mainstream media overload of reporting on the virus and multiple sources of factual information available, it’s not surprising social media has generated a miasma of quackery. And what would you expect when the most powerful man in the world, Donald Trump, delivers an increasingly irrational, chaotic and just plain bonkers commentary on the virus.
He recently endorsed the anti-malarial drug Chloroquine as a possible miracle cure for Corvid-19, falsely claiming that it had already been approved by the Food & Drug Administration for that purpose. Since that glowing endorsement a number of people have died worldwide by overdosing on a drug that needs to be taken in precise clinically prescribed doses.
With one of the fastest rates of global infection currently in America, the snake oil salesman have emerged from the ether in alarming numbers. Combine blatant quackery with an evangelical blessing and you have a potent marketing force. Disgraced (but resurrected) TV evangelist Jim Bakker has been under investigation from the FDA for marketing a ‘Silver Solution” product that was originally claimed to cure Covid-19. $115 for 64 fluid ounces!
When the scrutiny was applied, Sherrill Sellman, a naturopath connected with his show came back with the ‘disclaimer’: “Well let’s say it hasn’t been tested on this strain of the coronavirus, but it’s been tested on other strains of the coronavirus, and has been able to eliminate it within 12 hours, totally eliminate it, kills it, deactivates it.”
In the original marketing campaign Bakker also claimed the potion “killed every venereal disease that there is” – something his rather sordid sexual history could well have acquainted him with. Maybe we now know what really killed Tammy!
Apart from the quack cures, mostly marketed at great expense, social media is now littered with hairbrained advice like maintaining a steamy indoor temperature, blowing hot air into your nose and mouth with a hair dryer and eating copious amounts of garlic. The latter would probably work well in terms of social distancing and keeping vampires away, but the virus – maybe not!
As the situation worsens and more and more people become severely sick and die, expect an onslaught of magic cures and Facebook bullshit. Social distancing, good hygiene and washing your hands with plenty of soap and water is going to cost you next to nothing!
