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We all have that one friend on Facebook.

You know the one, always sharing half-baked conspiracy theories about the moon landing and so on.

Usually, you let it slide, but now they’ve started sharing YouTube videos filmed in basements about how 5G spreads the coronavirus.

I’ve gone the ‘unfollow’ route, so that my blood doesn’t boil over, but it took a great deal of restraint not to lash out.

The past few weeks have seen a wealth of coronavirus-related fake news doing the rounds, and now attention has turned towards 5G.

Front and centre to this theory is the fact that COVID-19 originated in China, where 5G usage is widespread, which apparently constitutes a clear link, whilst others have said that the symptoms of COVID-19 are actually caused by exposure to 5G signals.

This is the same sort of thing we heard when 4G was rolled out, although that time the technology was blamed for causing cancer.

Now, with the coronavirus pandemic bringing the world to its knees, the conspiracy theorists have pivoted.

MyBroadband has an excellent article debunking the various conspiracies and claims, starting with 5G caused the coronavirus outbreak:

This myth also appears in the form of a claim that 5G created the SARS-CoV-2 virus, or that 5G is to blame for the symptoms COVID-19 patients are experiencing.

5G radio waves do not cause diseases or create viruses. There is also no evidence to suggest that radio waves would cause a virus to mutate.

At their most basic level, 5G radio waves are no different from those used in other wireless technologies. It therefore makes no sense that it would suddenly create a virus or cause an outbreak, given that such waves did not cause these problems before.

Sadly, when theories like this gather enough steam, people like our minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, are forced to address them, when they should be focused on more pressing matters.

At that point, the conspiracy theorists froth at the mouth about ‘the mainstream media, man’, further turning their back on any sensible thought.

Here’s what Mkhize said earlier in the week, via the Citizen:

…he said it had been scientifically established beyond any doubt that the coronavirus was a biological phenomenon.

The infections it was causing could be accurately tracked through lab tests and by studying the virus under a microscope.

The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is a zoonotic virus that emerged in China after jumping from an animal to a human, he pointed out.

Since it is a new virus, most people have no immune defence against it, and it is also spreading rapidly due to being very easy to contract.

MyBroadband then address three more myths (5G is 10 000 times the strength of 4G, 5G uses higher frequencies than 4G, which are dangerous, and Cellphone networks are “building a global microwave oven”), before this ends their list.

China got hit badly with COVID-19 because it has 5G coverage

This myth is based on a press release issued by Chinese mobile networks in November 2019 stating they had launched the world’s largest 5G network.

However, there are several other commercial 5G networks that have been operating for some time.

South Korea rolled out 5G before China did and stated that it had over one million 5G subscribers by June 2019. Why didn’t the virus originate there then?

Conspiracy theorists can also not explain why the virus didn’t originate in Ireland, where commercial 5G services have been available since August 2019.

But they don’t need to explain these things, because reason and rationale were never a part of this theory in the first place.

It’s also pointed out that some 5G services were launched in Lesotho in August 2018, but that headstart didn’t manifest in any cases.

Another day, another dangerous theory that needs to be shut down.

[sources:mybb&citizen]