Segun Gbadegesin
In the ageless wisdom of the ancestors, a o ri ru eyi ri, koro o le su oloro ni: Nothing is completely new, and any expression of surprise on a matter brought to our attention can only be to embarrass or overwhelm the concerned person. Notice that the subject pronoun is first-person plural. The reference is to the collective experience of the group and the point is that, to them, nothing is new.
But COVID-19 is new, as the name, “Novel Coronavirus” demonstrably suggests. Could the ancestors be wrong then? Of course not. We have seen this kind of thing before. In the first place COVID-19 is a virus. We have seen many viruses before. In the second place, it is also a Coronavirus, and we have seen Coronaviruses many times over. In the third place, it is a pandemic, and this is not the first time we have seen a pandemic.
The 1918/1919 influenza was a virus and a pandemic. It navigated the Atlantic, docked at our seaport and found its way to the hinterland killing about half a million of our ancestors. That was more than a century ago. Worldwide, it infected about 500 million people and killed more than 50 million. A scholarly paper in 2006 by Jeffery Taubenberger and David Morens named it “the Mother of all Pandemics”.
Just as pandemics are not new, so are conspiracy theories and myths about them not new. The 1918 influenza pandemic was termed “Spanish flu” as if it originated from Spain. But that was contestable. As Richard Gunderman explains in Giving Compass, the Spanish label stuck because Spain was the only European country that did not hide the occurrence of the flu among her populace, whereas other nations, including Germany, Austria, France, U.K. and even the United States, which were all involved in World War 1, suppressed the extent of the flu in their countries so as not to encourage their enemy combatants.
The ongoing World War 1 at the time became an easy target for conspiracy theorists with Allied Powers blaming the flu on biological weapons spread by Central Powers, using German submarines. And just as now (considering what’s going on our streets), the 1918 flu was used by many as an excuse for crime and violence in many communities.
Fast forward to COVID-19 and, again, nothing is new. The virus has infected hundreds of thousands worldwide and tens of thousands have succumbed to its terrible impact. While it remains true that COVID-19 is an equal opportunity attacker, it is also true that its toll is increasing disproportionately among vulnerable populations, which is again a reminder of the gross inequality of access to healthcare. It is also exposing the reality of the different outcomes of serious governmental and public health intervention versus incompetent and clueless approaches. Across nations, we see the difference; and within national borders, we also identify strength and weakness.
Of course, one commonality between the 1918 flu pandemic and COVID-19 is the ubiquity of conspiracy theories and fake news. And whereas in 1918, there was a limited means of transmitting them, fake news and conspiracy theories have since evolved with the explosion of mainstream and social media across the globe. And these media have been deployed most effectively in the service of fake news, sometimes with dangerous outcomes. Thankfully, these developments have not derailed governments, medical teams, including researchers and public health officials, from their mission to find a vaccine and cure.
One of the first conspiracy theories floated this time was the connection drawn between 5G mobile technology and COVID-19. The claim is that 5G has been deployed to transmit coronavirus to unsuspecting consumers of mobile technology. Naturally, people are afraid and, innocently, community do-gooders take it upon themselves to prevent calamity happening to their neck of the wood. In Britain, mobile phone masts are set on fire as prevention. Recently, an online video message surfaced on Twitter showing a mobile phone mast in Lagos on fire with the narrator confessing that he did it and many more were to come.
On one account of the theory, 5G technology weakens the immune system thus making one susceptible to COVID-19 attack. On another, the technology itself is a transmitter of the virus that causes COVID-19. We can see how this correlates with the 1918 theory of the transmission of the flu with submarines. It does not matter that scientists and technologists throughout the world have debunked this so-called connection.
While 5G and every mobile technology use radio waves, these are not anywhere near the high frequency end of electromagnetic spectrum and therefore cannot cause any harmful effect on the immune system. Both 4G and 5G use radio waves. If we are not concerned about 4G, it is irrational to have concern about 5G. And if COVID-19 is occurring in communities and nations which have not deployed 5G technology, the connection between the virus and 5G is a myth that needs to be debunked.
But why is the myth so prevalent such that not only some clerics but also politicians and celebrities have put their integrity on the line vouching for it? I have no idea except to attribute it to human proclivity to conspiracies. Meanwhile, China is moving on, launching research and development for a 6G mobile network while we complain about the danger to our health of its 5G technology.
If it is natural to link disaster with the malevolent mindset of others trying to harm us, is it normal to also read mischief into the motive of those trying to help relieve the burden of the original disaster? With their Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates have been in the forefront of an international effort to provide relief for disease-burdened communities throughout the world with a special focus on Africa. They have invested billions of dollars in vaccines against malaria and childhood diseases, including polio. They are so concerned about how Africa and other developing countries are impacted by any new pathogen and are not afraid to speak out.
But speaking out could be misunderstood and misinterpreted. As soon as the outbreak of COVID-19 became known and it was decimating developed countries with their state of the art medical technology and public health facilities, my worry was how Africa would cope if it got here. I couldn’t fathom how dear homeland would deal with thousands of sick people needing ventilators in ICU settings. It was the same worry that Melinda Gates expressed in the interview that has now become a weapon of distraction in the hands of conspiracy theorists. How dare she predict disaster for Africa? Well, she is not in the business of predicting. She is in the business of calling attention to a reality that is not hidden from reasonable viewpoint. The point is to deal with it before it gets out of hand.
The focus of a world that is concerned about defeating COVID-19 is two-fold: develop a vaccine and come up with a medical cure. Scientists are working hard on this two-pronged approach and the Gates Foundation is involved in both. But again, we are already hearing from conspiracy theorists about why we should be wary about their involvement. We are told that Bill Gates’s interest in vaccine development is not altruistic; that he has ulterior motives; that his vaccines have led to harm or death in some instances; and that he is going to use vaccine to track people.
Fortunately, we live in a new world of instant fact-check, that is, if we are not lazy. As Snopes, a fact-checking website observes, there is no truth to any of these rumors, beside the fact that “Gates is interested in improving lives through medical research and vaccinations.” It is not true that he is being sued by India. Indeed, the 7 deaths attributed to vaccination supported by Gates but carried out by PATH had nothing to do with the vaccine. And as Saranac Spencer of FactCheck.org finds, while “The Gates Foundation has advocated for expanded testing (for COVID-19) and has funded vaccine research, “neither of those involves implanted microchips.” End of story.
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