COVID-19: The Critical Role of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Mental Healthcare & Science Literacy

APPENDIX

I have separated these addendums to keep my personal views away from the document itself so that it can stand on its own, without being tainted by personal opinion rather than science. I recognise the error in this, and instead will likely be splitting this off into another page in due time.

SKEPTICAL OF TCM?
Update: I have moved this to another draft/preview blog post here – Apologies for loop arounds – I’ll correct all links accordingly asap!

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KEEPING YOUR HEAD SCREWED ON: DEBUNKING CONSPIRACIES

✨PLEASE BEGIN WITH MY ESSAY SERIES:

1. COMBATING MISINFORMATION IN THE COVID-19 ERA (Parts 1-2)
2. MISINFORMATION IN THE COVID-19 ERA: DANGERS & DELUSIONS (Parts 3-4)

1. FACT CHECKING DATABASES:

• ⭐#CoronaVirusFacts Alliance
  • Poynter’s mission is to champion the duty of a free press to inform, educate and hold the powerful accountable. As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, journalists, fact-checkers, educators and studentsfa around the world look to Poynter for best practices in covering the most significant story of this generation. …The IFCN is on the front lines of fighting the coronavirus infodemic by coordinating the largest collaborative fact-checking project ever.
    • 5G
    • Bill Gates
• FirstDraft Alpha: Debunk information about coronavirus (Covid-19)
  • Search for information and debunks in more than 20 languages.
• FactCheck.org: A Guide to Our Coronavirus Coverage
• Misinformation Watch – COVID19MisInfo.org
• FullFact.org

2. GENERAL ARTICLES:

• Covid-19 Bullshit Exposed in 5 Simple Graphics (11/20)
• The Atlantic – Renee Diresta (9/2020)
• 🌟Why smart people believe coronavirus myths (BBC)
• Here’s How to Fight Coronavirus Misinformation (The Atlantic)
• Why Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories Flourish. And Why It Matters. (NY Times)
• Debunking Coronavirus Trutherism (Medium)
  • Looking at hard evidence in response to conspiracy theories
• The Atir-Rosenzweig-Dunning Effect: when experts claim to know the unknowable (Big Think)
• RFK Jr. Is Our Brother and Uncle. He’s Tragically Wrong About Vaccines. (Politico)
• COVID-19 conspiracy theories: Vaccines and 5G (along with Bill Gates) are responsible! (Science Based Medicine)
• Coronavirus Is the Crisis of Conspiracy Theorists’ Wildest Dreams (Vice)
• Fact-checking hoaxes and conspiracies about the coronavirus (PolitiFact)
• Coronavirus conspiracy theories spread panic and dangerous misinformation (Mashable)

3. THE VACCINE.

• Every Covid-19 Vaccine Question You’ll Ever Have, Answered
• Update 8/21: There is obviously SO much more research regarding the vaccine out there now… to summarize everything: just get it.

4. ON MASKS.

• Covid-19 vs Surgical Mask. Do Masks Work Or Not?
• Masks Work. Really. We’ll Show You How. (New York Times)

5. “PLANDEMIC” (Please read the articles in General, above, first)

• Leading New Age Conspiracy Influencers Plan Their Retreat to Utopian Lagoon (vice.com)
• Why It’s Important To Push Back On ‘Plandemic’—And How To Do It
• Seen ‘Plandemic’? We Take A Close Look At The Viral Conspiracy Video’s Claims
• DISCREDITED VIRUS RESEARCHER PUSHES CORONAVIRUS DISINFORMATION (Excuse the caps, its the actual title)
• This.
• The anti-vaxx agenda of The Plandemic
• Why People Cling To Conspiracy Theories Like ‘Plandemic’

6. BILL GATES (Please read the articles in General, above, first)

• PolitiFact | Anti-vaxxers spread conspiracy about Bill Gates and India’s polio vaccination
• Conspiracy Theory Misinterprets Goals of Gates Foundation (FactCheck.org)
• What has Bill Gates done to help curb epidemics, pandemics, and COVID-19? (Quora)
• False claim: Bill Gates planning to use microchip implants to fight coronavirus (Reuters)
• Did Bill Gates Admit Vaccinations Are Designed So Governments Can Depopulate the World? (Snopes)
• FACT CHECK: Does A Bill Gates-Funded Research Institute Own The Patent For Coronavirus? (CheckYourFact)
• Fact check: A Bill Gates-backed pandemic simulation in October did not predict COVID-19 (USA Today)
• Bill Gates Tells Trump: Stop Stoking Coronavirus Miracle Cure Rumors (Daily Beast)

7. 5G AS A CONNECTION TO COVID-19 (Please read the articles in General, above, first)

(I have less here because… of how little time I’ve devoted to the topic because of how silly it is. And to be clear, this is specifically on the claims of 5G related to Covid – not a discussion on the safety of 5G itself, per se)

• 🆕RETRACTED: 5G Technology and induction of coronavirus in skin cells (PubMed)
  • I’m just sharing this because someone shared the original with me, and I’m pointing out it was very, very retracted.
  • PubMed Leaps Into Pseudoscience, Links 5G, Coronavirus
  • This is by far the stupidest coronavirus ‘study’ ever published
• COVID-19 and the 5G Conspiracy Theory: Social Network Analysis of Twitter Data
• How the 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory tore through the internet (Wired)
• Your 5G Phone Wont Hurt You. But Russia Wants You To Think Otherwise. (NY Times – 5/12/19 – Note the date!)
• No, 5G Is Not Causing Coronavirus (or Anything Else)
• No, 5G doesn’t cause the coronavirus (CBC debunking Dr. Thomas Cowan)
• The latest COVID-19 conspiracy theory puts the blame on 5G (FastCompany 4/03/2020)

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SPRING 2020 ARCHIVE

THE BIG PICTURE

• 7 Predictions for a Post-Coronavirus World
• How deadly is the coronavirus? It’s still far from clear
• Coronavirus: nine reasons to be reassured
  • While this article is now relatively outdated, please keep your facts aligned with resources such as Medscape, CDC, WHO, and Wikipedia, instead of zero-ing in on the absolute worst-case scenarios and contributing to public hysteria.
• COVID-19 Mortality Rate May Be ‘Considerably Less Than 1%’
  • This is world-wide, rather than individual regions where there obviously can be significant variations/variables – most notably in the US.
• Coronavirus Will Change the World Permanently. Here’s How.
• The entire premise of my original video has been confirmed by this latest report from Italy – please take this as a chance to have your loved ones begin the path to overall health!
• COVID-19 compared to other diseases
• The Ecology of Disease (from 2012!)
• The coronavirus did not escape from a lab. Here’s how we know.
• COVID-19 crisis tells world what Indigenous Peoples have been saying for thousands of years
• ‘Tip of the iceberg’: is our destruction of nature responsible for Covid-19?

EMERGING NEWSFRONTS

• Meta-Analyses Reveal Who Should Be More Cautious of COVID-19
• The Four Possible Timelines for Life Returning to Normal
• Some Good News: You Don’t Need to Worry About the Coronavirus Mutating
• What the Science Really Says About Ibuprofen and Coronavirus
• Potential impact of seasonal forcing on a SARS-CoV-2 pandemic
• Severe Outcomes Among Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) — United States, February 12–March 16, 2020
• Study: COVID-19 Is Also Spread by Fecal-Oral Route
• Infected people without symptoms might be driving the spread of coronavirus more than we realized

SOCIO-POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS

Not wanting to wade into political debate… But these are simply pretty hard to argue against.

• Trump holds “financial interest” in pharmaceutical company that produces hydroxychloroquine: NYT
• ‘Literally Weaponizing Coronavirus’: Despite One of World’s Worst Outbreaks of Deadly Virus, US Hits Iran With ‘Brutal’ New Sanctions
• Coronavirus has revealed left wing ideas are nothing more than plain common sense
• A debt jubilee is the only way to avoid a depression
• Reality Has Endorsed Bernie Sanders
• These Companies Enriched Themselves. Now They’re Getting a Bailout.