There’s always a lot of snake oil circulating on Facebook and other social media. And there’s a boatload of it right now. Even aside from the president offering up untested therapies as miracle cures, there’s some really kooky stuff out there right now:
While most of the Okeechobee County Commissioners urge the public to refer to the health information from the Centers for Disease Control, the Florida Department of Health or their own doctor, one commissioner uses the public commission meetings to share his own ideas about COVID-19.
At the March 20 meeting of the Okeechobee County Commissioners, Commissioner Bryant Culpepper referenced a program he said he saw on One American News Network about the coronavirus.
“One of the things that was pointed out in this interview with one of the foremost doctors who has studied the coronavirus said that the nasal passages and the nasal membranes are the coolest part of the body. That’s why the virus tends to go there until it then becomes healthy enough to go into the lungs.
“This sound really goofy, and it did to me too, but it works,” he explained. “Once the temperature reaches 136 degrees Fahrenheit, the virus falls apart, it disintegrates.
“I said how would you get the temperature up to 136 degrees? The answer was you use a blow dryer. You hold a blow dryer up to your face and you inhale through your nose and it kills all the viruses in your nose.
“So that sounds like a really simplified way of doing things, but sometimes the cures for these diseases are very simple.
“Also, if you are worried about it going into your lungs, because that’s where it goes to turn into pneumonia, you can put a pan of water on the stove until it turns into steam and inhale it. It sounds too easy, but at this point, it’s worth trying,” he continued.
[…]
According to the World Health Organization website, hair dryers are not effective in killing the COVID-19 virus.
Doctors who have responded to this story that has made the rounds on YouTube, Facebook and other social media have also pointed out that pointing the hair dryer on high heat directly at your face could irritate your skin, eyes, nose and mouth.
Friday’s meeting suggestion was not the first time Commissioner Culpepper has offered a suggestion fighting the COVID-19 virus.
At the March 17 meeting, he suggested using ozone to kill the COVID-19 virus.
“My son has discovered something that is totally a game changer,” he said. “There is a website online and those of you that hunt … there is a device that hunters use because deer can smell the scent of a human, and they do that because of the bacteria.
“What they have developed is a small device, nano ozone, that you wear on your clothing and it actually sends out an ozone vapor that goes approximately three meters completely around your body. Any type of virus, coronavirus, whatever virus you choose, regular cold virus, can be killed by this ozone.
“Most of the time when you have a problem, there is usually a cure, and it’s usually technology,” he said.
Ok, he’s just some guy down in Florida. How about this?
Medium stepped in and said this post was not written by an expert and they published a rebuttal. But keep in mind that the President of the United States AND his tens of millions of followers are passing around bogus information in the middle of a pandemic.
Who needs Russian bots?