ANOTHER CORONA FOR THE ROAD, PERHAPS? SNAKE OILS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

We are all focused on what’s happening with COVID-19 cases in America, our state, county, city, and neighborhood. So, we tend to forget about how COVID-19 is laying waste to the rest of the world. But at the end of August, there had been over 25 million cases of the coronavirus worldwide and 850,000 deaths. The U.S. is by far the worst. USA! USA! But the pandemic has impacted virtually every corner of the earth. And just like over here in the land of of the free, each outbreak in every country has spawned a slew of snake oil cures; some so crazy, you would think someone was pulling your leg, or you were watching a Trump press conference.

Russia, our partner in coronavirus bungling, has been pushing all sorts of unproven treatments. Vlad “The Flailer” Putin recently announced with great fanfare that the vaccine Gam-COVID-Vac was ready for widespread use, although it has not completed testing. According to Nature, “Russia hasn’t completed large trials to test the vaccine’s safety and efficacy, and rolling out an inadequately vetted vaccine could endanger people who receive it”.

Russia may be trying to prove that it’s still relevant, and making a mess of things in the process, but at least they do have thousands of reputable doctors and scientists working diligently on a cure for COVID-19. But if you check out COVID-19 cures on the internet, at sites like Wikipedia, you will be totally blown away by the criminal nonsense being pedaled around the world. Here is just a small sample of what I found.

• Clever con artists in Japan are offering “Virus Shut Out Protection” pendants that you wear around your neck to drive away the evil spirits.
• Australian crooks from the “Australian Medical University” have developed a vaccine and are accepting 0.1 Bitcoin as payment for a vaccination they promise to ship in 5–10 days. And Australian celebrity chef Pete Evans claims that a device called the BioCharger NG Subtle Energy Platform, retailing for $14,990, can cure the coronavirus.
• “Influenza complex” has been marketed as a preventive measure for COVID-19 by a man in New Zealand, who claims to have identified and imbued his product with the “frequency” of COVID-19, using a “radionics machine“.
• In Greece, a nation that has done extremely well in handling the spread of the virus, the right-wing populist party leader of the party Greek Solution has been hawking on his TV show his special hand cream that will completely kill the virus.
• Facebook was filled with posts from Sri Lanka about a complex herbal drink that can wipe out all virus infections which can affect humans, including COVID-19.
• Andry Rajoelina, the President of Madagascar, has launched and promoted Covid-Organics: a herbal drink based on an artemisia plant as a miracle cure that can treat and prevent COVID-19. The drink has been exported to other African countries at considerable profit to ol’ Andry.

But not every phony remedy leads to a con. Some are just the product of a loony asshole pretending to be a savior.

• Andrographis paniculata was claimed to boost the immune systems and relieve symptoms of coronavirus by a Thai media website.
• From the Philippines comes a strange claim that the sap from Tinospora crispa (makabuhay) plants was claimed to serve as an antibiotic against the coronavirus when used as an eye drop; it was also claimed that the coronavirus is from the skin and crawls to the eyes.
• The poisonous fruit of the datura plant is being falsely promoted as a preventive measure for COVID-19, resulting in eleven people being hospitalized in India. They ate the fruit, following the instructions from a TikTok video that it’s fruit was spiky and looks like microscopic photos of the coronavirus.
• A recipe consisting of ingredients often purported to prevent and cure colds, including lemon grass, elder, ginger, black pepper, lemon and honey, was promoted by Maria Alejandra Diaz, a member of the Venezuelan Constituent Assembly, as a cure for COVID-19 which he claimed was a bioterrorism weapon.

We like to think our televangelists are the nuttiest, but they can’t hold a candle to those who talk to god from foreign shores.

• Indian politician Swami Chakrapani claimed that drinking cow urine and applying cow dung on the body could cure COVID-19. He also stated that only Indian cows must be used.^[96][97] MP Suman Haripriya also promoted cow dung and urine, along with several other high-ranking BJP officials.^[98] In March of 2020, the All India Hindu Union hosted a “cow urine drinking party” in New Delhi, attended by 200 people.^[99] 
• Drinking camel urine has been advocated in the Middle East.^[102][103] The WHO stated that camel urine should not be drunk, in order to avoid contracting Middle East Respiratory Syndrome–related coronavirus (MERS-CoV),^{[104][105][106][107]} a more deadly, SARS-CoV-2-like species of betacoronavirus.
• “Happy Science“, a secretive pay-to-progress religious group, sells “spiritual vaccines” to prevent and cure COVID-19, advertises virus-related blessings at rates from $100 to $400, and sells coronavirus-themed DVDs and CDs of Ryuho Okawa (the former stockbroker whom the group believes to be the current incarnation of the supreme deity) lecturing, which are claimed to boost immunity. After initially defying social-distancing measures, it later closed its New York temple, and administered spiritual vaccines remotely.^[109]
• A suggestion that COVID-19 could be prevented by applying a cotton ball soaked in violet oil to the anus has brought Abbas Tabrizian renewed widespread ridicule in Iran. The IRNA news agency reported that Abbas Tabrizian, who has often promoted his remedies as Prophetic medicine in opposition to standard medicine, has also claimed that COVID-19 is God’s revenge against those who had bothered him.^[110] An arrest warrant has been issued for Morteza Kohansal, a follower of Abbas Tabrizian, who visited the coronavirus section of a hospital in Iran without wearing protective gear, and applied what he described as the “Prophet’s perfume” to affected patients. Using Prophetic medicine has caused some Iranian clerics to delay getting standard medical treatment. Ayatollah Hashem Bathaie Golpayegani announced that he had cured himself of COVID-19 three weeks before being hospitalized. He died two days later.^[111]
• Some religious hardliners in Iran have advocated that people visit shrines to be healed, and opposed government closures of pilgrimage sites.^[111][112]
• Parliamentarian Ramesh Bidhuri of the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed that experts say using Namaste as a greeting prevents transmission of COVID-19, but using Arabic greetings such as Adab and As-salamu alaykum does not prevent it as they direct air into the mouth.^[113][114]
• Religious and scientific misconceptions related to the coronavirus have been found to be widespread in Pakistan.^[115] According to a survey research conducted by Ipsos, 82% of people in Pakistan believed that performing wudu/ablution five times a day will keep them protected from contracting COVID-19. Meanwhile 67% polled believed that jamaat (congregation prayer) cannot become a source of infection^[116] and 48% people believed that shaking hands cannot infect anyone since it is Sunnah.^[117]

After looking at all this crazy shit, it’s easy to just say we’re all doomed if and when a seriously deadly virus, with a mortality rate of forty or fifty percent sweeps the earth. Please keep in mind that the COVID-19 death rate is different for every nation. Right now, Mexico is leading the race to the bottom of the graveyard with an astounding 10.7 percent. The rest of the hit parade losers are:

• Ecuador – 5.8%
• Iran – 5.7%
• Peru – 4.4%
• Bolivia – 4.3%
• Indonesia – 4.2%
• Romania – 4.1%
• Columbia – 3.2%
• Brazil – 3.1%
• US – 3.0%
• Iraq – 3.0%
• Chile – 2.7%
• Turkey – 2.4%
• South Africa – 2.3%
• Ukraine – 2.3%
• Argentina – 2.1%
• India – 1.8%
• Russia – 1.7%
• Philippines – 1.6%
• Bangladesh – 1.4%
  • Source – Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center (9/1/20)

Okay, it’s hard to imagine the United States being on ANY goddamn list with the above rogues gallery of nations. And the fact that Bangladesh, a pitifully poor and undeveloped country with essentially no water or sewer service, is doing two times better at controlling COVID-19 than the United States is both remarkable and embarrassing.

What the hell happened to this country?