Whatsapp and corona!

Five hundred unread messages showed my WhatsApp! I did what I usually do with my WhatsApp; Just open it and close it, to take off the unread numbers. Curiosity piqued, I opened a few of my groups to read. Corona and the prime minister's latest curfew announcement were the order of the day on the WhatsApp groups.

There were all sorts of messages. All sorts! 

"The virus will live only for 12 hours and that is why the prime minister has asked us to sit at home for 14 hours; To break the community transmission of the virus", said one. "If we clap on the 22nd of March all the viruses will be dead due to some astronomical energy", said another. There was even one message which said, "Corona was invented by the Illuminati to depopulate the earth"

Just to set some context, I will break the myth (ie) the first WhatsApp message here. Research by (Doremalen, et al, 2020), published by the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that the new coronavirus (COVID - 19) can live in the air for 3 hours, up to 4 hours on copper surfaces, more than 24 hours on cardboards and up to 2-3 days on plastic and stainless steel surfaces. This research clearly shows that there is a gap between the perceived truth and the researched truth. 

Okay, I can hear you ask, how do I know whether the research is true or not; What if the research is wrong? To be honest, I don't know. That is why I have given the name of the author and the publication here; Lesson number one to learn here is, if possible to check the veracity of the message you forward, before forwarding it. If it is not possible to check the truthfulness of it, please forward it with the name of the author in it. If you are not able to find both, keep quiet and close your WhatsApp down.

So one friend asked me, I only forward the positive messages, what can go wrong even if it is a false message? The value of your truth will go down! For we all know the 'shepherd who cried wolf' story, don't we?

Also remember, every fake message has a beneficiary with a selfish intention, to begin with. Why abet a selfish intention, if you don't have a stake in it?