15 Really Dumb Myths About the Coronavirus

NEW DELHI, INDIA – MARCH 30: A man wearing a face mask walks past an Indian Railway train coach which is being set up for isolation for the COVID-19 novel coronavirus patients at a railway station, as nationwide lockdown continues over the highly contagious coronavirus (COVID-19) on March 30, 2020 in New Delhi, India. The death toll in India due to coronavirus reached 29 as the total number of cases shot up to 1,071 on Monday, health ministry said, amid an unprecedented 21-day lockdown which has caused hardships to the countrys poor particularly migrant workers, thousands of whom have either been stuck in the national capital or were forced to cover hundreds of kilometers back to their native villages. (Photo by Yawar Nazir/Getty Images)

BuzzFeed has compiled a list of myths that have been going around about the coronavirus. Here are just 10 myths you need to be aware of–and the true facts you need to know (check HERE for more):

Myth: The coronavirus only affects really old people. Fact: The coronavirus can infect people of all ages, according to the World Health Organization.
Myth: Only old people can catch the virus. Fact: In the U.S., 38 percent of patients that were sick enough to be hospitalized between February 12 and March 16 were age 20 to 54, according to a CDC study.
Myth: Only the very elderly have died from it. Fact: At least nine people age 20-64, as well as an infant last week, have died from COVID-19 in the U.S., the CDC study notes.
Myth: Even though it also affects people with serious medical conditions, that’s basically just old people anyway. Fact: People of all ages with pre-existing medical conditions are more vulnerable to becoming seriously ill with the coronavirus, according to the WHO.
Myth: If you’re young, you’re totally fine. Fact: “Severe illness leading to hospitalization, including ICU admission and death, can occur in adults of any age with COVID-19,” the authors of the CDC study wrote.
Myth: That young people are immune, period. Fact: “Because no humans have had coronavirus in the past, we have no immunity to coronavirus,” Dr. Natasha Bhuyan told BuzzFeed Video.
Myth: If you’re in your forties, you’re fine. Fact: Idris Elba, who’s 47, tested positive for COVID-19.
Myth: Twenty- and thirty-year-olds are completely unsusceptible. Fact: Colton Underwood, the 28-year-old star of The Bachelor, announced Friday that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
Myth: Babies and Toddlers are safe. Fact: A study of over 2,000 pediatric coronavirus patients in China found that “young children, particularly infants, were vulnerable to infection.”
Myth: That young people can’t spread the coronavirus to older people. Fact: “While people over 65 are at the greatest risk, especially those with underlying health conditions, we know that the people who are spreading it to them are the younger people,” Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said last week.