There is no doubt that people’s views are divided on the crisis facing the world right now. Some of that division – though not all – is along political lines, while some is based on little more than hope or instinct. One thing that is, however, definitively true is that if anyone tells you they know how things are going to go from this point, they are misinforming you. At this stage, the smartest epidemiologists have a range of confident predictions, but they don’t know how things will end up – so neither do any of us.

One thing that we can say, though, is that there is a propagation of myths that is far from helpful when it comes to staying healthy during this time. These myths are not a matter of opinion; they aren’t about trusting your instincts. They’re simply things that have somehow become understood as true by some individuals. If you see them shared on Facebook, and you feel up to correcting them, go ahead – but most importantly, just know that they’re completely and dangerously untrue.

We just need to wait it out into the summer – the virus will die in the heat

This is a myth based on a certain amount of knowledge, but not enough to really understand epidemiology. Yes, viruses classically like cooler weather; this is why you don’t get as many colds in summer. However, this detail is not uniformly true. Ebola, one of the most aggressive viruses known to man, lives and thrives mostly in Africa in temperatures well above what Americans will live with this spring and summer. The MERS coronavirus spread in Saudi Arabia in August – when the average high is 108 degrees.

The truth is, we don’t know how Covid-19 will behave in the summer, because it was only identified in December 2019. We haven’t lived through a summer with it. And even if it does die down, that doesn’t rule out a nastier second wave in autumn, and self-isolation over the holiday season.

Don’t buy anything from China – the packages will be contaminated

Leaving aside, for one moment, the fact that China has more successfully “flattened the curve” than most countries, this myth ignores that the survivability of a virus is limited outside the body of a host. While it is true that inspection of plastic surfaces has detected the virus up to 72 hours after the item was last touched by an infected person, any delivery you receive from that part of the world will take a lot longer than three days to reach you. You’re genuinely at greater threat if you shake hands with an old friend you haven’t seen in a while.

Bleach will destroy the virus inside the body

Let’s just deal with this one swiftly. If you drink bleach, coronavirus will very rapidly become the least of your worries. This is also true if you inject it. Bleach has no place inside the human body, and it’s not even necessary should you wish to kill the virus on the outside of the body – washing your hands or any contaminated area with soap and water will destroy the virus’ structure perfectly well. At the moment, the truth is that there isn’t a cure for Covid-19; it simply needs to be treated per doctors’ advice.

It’s easy to get carried away with a condition that has spread so fast and affected so many – Covid-19 has had an impact we could never have imagined back in January – but it’s vitally important to stick to the facts. Myths catch the attention in a way that mere facts can’t possibly hope to match – and that’s why, like the virus itself, you need to be vigilant in spotting and flattening them.