SPRUCE PINE — Whether by word-of-mouth or via social media, false information and conspiracy theories about the novel coronavirus are running rampant.
Toe River Health District Director Diane Creek addressed some of the more prominent misinformation encompassing the pandemic ranging from masks and oxygen levels to microchips in vaccines.
When it comes to masks, some people believe their oxygen levels are lowered thus causing headaches while wearing a face covering. Creek said while it may be uncomfortable to wear a mask, it does not lower oxygen levels.
“Doctors and nurses wear masks all day routinely on the job and there have been videos online of nurses measuring their oxygen levels while wearing a mask and they’re completely fine,” she said. “If you’re getting a headache, it might be from something else.”
For people with severe asthma and COPD, Creek said wearing a mask can be difficult, but because of these medical issues, they are more at risk to have a severe case of COVID-19 if they contract it. Creek suggests a gator style mask, which may be easier to breathe in for some, and to wear it all the way to the bottom of the neck.
False positives have also been a hot topic in conversations surrounding the virus. Creek said there are two primary reasons people believe there are false positives.
First, when a person is exposed to the virus, it can stay dormant in their body for up to a week before it starts presenting symptoms. Second, there are people who are exposed to the virus who only ever have very mild symptoms or no symptoms at all.
“There are very, very few false positives,” Creek said. “Some people have very mild symptoms and for example, might attribute a scratchy throat to allergies instead of coronavirus or maybe they just ignore the symptoms all together because, gosh, nobody feels good 100 percent of the time.”
She added people with mild symptoms would still be as contagious as someone presenting severe symptoms, which is why it is important to stay home as much as possible. Creek noted there have been no false positives in the tri-counties.
Mitchell County has now seen two COVID-related deaths, but many people say these deaths are due to prior health conditions and dismiss the virus’s effect. Creek said she understands that point of view, because prior health risks contribute, but clarified why it was deemed a COVID-related death.
“When we say it was a COVID-related death, COVID has caused them to get severely sick, go into the hospital, get put on a ventilator and then the rest of their body just couldn’t handle the strain,” she said. “So, the virus is what caused them to go into the hospital and be severely sick, where if they hadn’t gotten the virus, they probably would have been just fine.”
While a vaccine for the virus is likely still far off, Creek said theories suggesting people will be microchipped by the future vaccine are false.
“First of all, they don’t make microchips that small that would draw up into a needle where we couldn’t see it,” she said. “If you’ve ever seen a dog get microchipped, it takes a hypodermic needle to insert that chip into that dog and we’re not going to be giving shots with hypodermic needles in any way, shape or form.”
Creek said she believes when the vaccine does come out it will have been thoroughly tested and safe.
“If a drug company puts out a vaccine that kills people, that’s going to absolutely ruin that company,” she said. “With lawsuits and bad press, it would bankrupt them. I think they are very aware of that and are taking every precaution.”
Creek added she hopes people will get the vaccine when it arrives, because herd immunity, which is when a large percentage of a population has become immune to an infection, doesn’t appear to be a possibility with COVID-19.
“Herd immunity is great for things like the flu that you can develop an immunity to, but with this virus, they’ve done research on people who have had it and the immunity only lasts for three or four months and then you’re back to being susceptible,” Creek said. “The only way that we’re going to be able to slow this down is by having a vaccine and having people get that vaccine.”
As of Friday, July 31, Mitchell County had 112 positive cases, 99 of which have recovered and 11 are active. There have been two deaths.
The Mitchell County Health Department is still testing people by appointment. To schedule a test, call the health department at 688-2371.