Multimedia Project on the Coronavirus.

1. Covid-19 Conspiracies
By: Devynn Krieger

2. Conspiracy Theories
• Conspiracy theories attempt to force a narrative on the public related
to situations that are frightening such as financial crisis, natural
disasters, and pandemics.
• In the twenty-first century, these theories are linked to anxieties
related to new technologies, terrorism, and increased surveillance
issues.
• These theories have been made more prevalent due to historic events
such has a terrorist attack on. September 11, 2001, the 2008 financial
crisis, and the current Covid-19 pandemic.

3. Conspiracy theory on Covid-19
• Conspiracy theories related to Covid-19 have quickly spread during
the pandemic.
• These theories have the potential to jeopardizes the public health by
undermining the need for social distances and willingness to
participate in the vaccination against the virus.
• The pervasiveness of conspiracy theories on both social media and
news have led to the World Health Organization (WHO) warning that,
“Were not ju7st fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic.
Fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus, and is just as
dangerous.” (WHO,2020)

4. There are multiple conspiracy theories related to the Covid-19 virus. A few
of the more prevalent ones are:
• 5G technology caused the virus – A Belgium physician reported a link between 5G
towers and the millimeter wave spectrum causing the virus. There were over 200
instances reported of attacks on telecommunication workers and destruction of
numerous mobile towers after this report came out on social media.
• Bill Gates using the virus – Conspiracy theorists believed that he was utilizing the virus
to enforce global vaccination and surveillance programs for his own gain.
• Consumption of high concentrations of alcohol – Theorists believed that consuming
alcohol that was highly concentrated disinfected the body and therefore killed the
Coronavirus. This resulted in approximately 800 deaths and 5,800 hospitalizations
worldwide.
• Covid-19 was deliberately manufactured – Theorists believed that the Covid-19 virus
was manufactured in a lab in Wuhan, China to wage war on the United States.

5. There are multiple conspiracy theories related to the Covid-19 virus. A few
of the more prevalent ones are:
(Cont’ed)
• Anti-maskers – The belief by these people that covid-19 mandates were a
powerful direct attack on our civil liberties in the United States
• Anti-vaxxers – There are multiple reasons that people have given for being
against the Covid-19 vaccine. A few of these are:
• The vaccines doesn’t work
• The vaccine makes you magnetic
• The vaccine causes Covid-29 variants
• The vaccine makes you infertile
• The vaccine has a microchip in it from the Government to track you
• The vaccine causes autism
• The vaccine re-writes DNA

6. There are multiple alternative explanations for the conspiracy theories
related to the Covid-19 virus. Some of those follows:
• Conspiracy theories involving health scares have often blamed new technologies
such as high voltage power lines, microwaves, and mobile phones.
• Conspiracy theories related to mobile 5G technologies are not new. Prior
conspiracies blamed this technology for unexplained deaths of birds and trees.
• The conspiracy theories related to microchipping and tracing the public show the
level of concern that Americans have for digital surveillance of their personal
data. This has been going on for many years prior to the pandemic.
• According to a report from a U.S. directly of national intelligence, the Covid-19
virus is not a biological weapon and probably was not engineered genetically by
the Chinese.
• The surgeon general during the face mask restrictions stated, “Some feel fa ce
coverings infringe on their freedom of choice – but if more wear them, we’ll
have more freedom to go out.”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/16/politics/what-matters-coronavirus-covid-mask-
politics/index.html

7. Cont’ed
• The Covid-19 vaccine helps to protect people by creating an immune
response without the potentially severe illness. None of the Covid-19
vaccines can give you the Covide-19 virus. Bringing new vaccines to
the public involves various steps and procedures before made
available for use.

8. My thought on the Coronavirus Theory
• Many of the conspiracy theories, in my opinion, are based on fear and
misinformation.
• While Covid-19’s origin is still not clear, I do not believe that there are
not enough facts to support how this virus originated. I do believe
that there are enough facts, however, that vaccination and certain
safety practices are a way to decrease the spread of the virus.

9. Work Cited Page
• Tirpak, John. 2021. Intel Agencies: Covid-19 Not a Biological Weapon, Likely Not Engineered.
https://www.airandspaceforces.com/intelligence-agencies-agree-covid-19-not-a-biological-weapon-not-
engineered/
• Centers For Disease. 2022. How Vaccines Work. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-
vaccines/how-they-work.html
• Front Political Science. 2021. Different Conspiracies Theories.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2021.642510/full
• News. 2021. Covid-19 Origin: Why the Wuhan Lab Leak Theory Is Being Taken Too Seriously.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57268111
• Pertwee, Simas, Larson. 2022.An Epidemic of Uncertainty. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01728-z
• Douglas. 2021. Covid-19 Conspiracy Theories. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1368430220982068
• Cassata. 2021. Doctors Debunk 9 Popular Covid-19 Vaccine Myths and Conspiracy Theories.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/doctors-debunk-9-popular-covid-19-vaccine-myths-and-conspiracy-
theories
• Wolf. 2020. It’s Not maskers Vs. Anti-maskers. It’s Public Safety. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/16/politics/what-
matters-coronavirus-covid-mask-politics/index.html