Holding breath for 10 seconds detects coronavirus? Fact Check

ByCraig Haley

A message spreading through social media – specifically Facebook and WhatsApp – claims to offer several tips about coronavirus, namely that being able to hold your breath for more than 10 seconds demonstrates you are not infected with coronavirus, and that sipping water every 15 minutes will help prevent infection.

MOSTLY FALSE

The long-winded message, outlined below, is actually at least three different messages all attached to each other to create a longer message. We have previously debunked some of the claims before, but we do a full analysis below.

Most versions claim this message came from Stanford Hospital (it didn’t.)

From member of the Stanford hospital board. This is their feedback for now on Corona virus: The new Coronavirus may not show sign of infection for many days. How can one know if he/she is infected? By the time they have fever and/or cough and go to the hospital, the lung is usually 50% Fibrosis and it’s too late. Taiwan experts provide a simple self-check that we can do every morning. Take a deep breath and hold your breath for more than 10 seconds. If you complete it successfully without coughing, without discomfort, stiffness or tightness, etc., it proves there is no Fibrosis in the lungs, basically indicates no infection. In critical time, please self-check every morning in an environment with clean air. Serious excellent advice by Japanese doctors treating COVID-19 cases: Everyone should ensure your mouth & throat are moist, never dry. Take a few sips of water every 15 minutes at least. Why? Even if the virus gets into your mouth, drinking water or other liquids will wash them down through your throat and into the stomach. Once there, your stomach acid will kill all the virus. If you don’t drink enough water more regularly, the virus can enter your windpipe and into the lungs. That’s very dangerous. Please send and share this with family and friends. Take care everyone and may the world recover from this Coronavirus soon. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT – CORONAVIRUS 1. If you have a runny nose and sputum, you have a common cold 2. Coronavirus pneumonia is a dry cough with no runny nose. 3. This new virus is not heat-resistant and will be killed by a temperature of just 26/27 degrees. It hates the Sun. 4. If someone sneezes with it, it takes about 10 feet before it drops to the ground and is no longer airborne. 5. If it drops on a metal surface it will live for at least 12 hours – so if you come into contact with any metal surface – wash your hands as soon as you can with a bacterial soap. 6. On fabric it can survive for 6-12 hours. normal laundry detergent will kill it. 7. Drinking warm water is effective for all viruses. Try not to drink liquids with ice. 8. Wash your hands frequently as the virus can only live on your hands for 5-10 minutes, but – a lot can happen during that time – you can rub your eyes, pick your nose unwittingly and so on. 9. You should also gargle as a prevention. A simple solution of salt in warm water will suffice. 10. Can’t emphasis enough – drink plenty of water! THE SYMPTOMS 1. It will first infect the throat, so you’ll have a sore throat lasting 3/4 days 2. The virus then blends into a nasal fluid that enters the trachea and then the lungs, causing pneumonia. This takes about 5/6 days further. 3. With the pneumonia comes high fever and difficulty in breathing. 4. The nasal congestion is not like the normal kind. You feel like you’re drowning. It’s imperative you then seek immediate attention. SHARE WITH FAMILY and FRIENDS

This message is actually three different [mostly false] claims stitched together.

Claim 1: Holding your breath for more than 10 seconds demonstrates you are not infected with coronavirus. This is inaccurate.

Claim 2: Sipping water every 15 minutes pushes the virus down into the stomach, killing it. This is false and we have discussed this previously here.

Claim 3: The claim beginning with IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT offers several “tips” and “facts” regarding coronavirus. Some are accurate, some are unproven and some are inaccurate. We have previously discussed this message here.

Claim 1: Holding your breath to detect coronavirus

The claim that holding your breath for more than 10 seconds is an effective method of detecting if you have coronavirus is simply not true. No relevant entity recommends such a test. While the COVID-19 disease that results from the 2019 novel coronavirus can cause respiratory infections that lead to symptoms such as shortness of breath, given the varying symptoms and gradation of symptoms in specific individuals, it is unlikely that any generic “test” such as this is going to be an effective method of detecting a coronavirus infection.

For example, many people infected with coronavirus, especially younger children, have reported mild respiratory infections that would not likely prevent them from holding their breath without discomfort. Alternatively, a number of conditions completely unrelated to coronavirus (common cold, flu) can equally prevent someone from holding their breath without discomfort.

In fact, such a broad claim is likely to be dangerous, since it could tempt coronavirus victims to ignore other more pressing symptoms and not seek appropriate medical help, or it could panic people not infected with the disease to believe they have become infected.

A WHO spokesperson has told us that holding your breath is “not a recognised method” of detecting coronavirus or COVID-19.

The primary symptoms of coronavirus are fever, cough and shortness of breath. If these symptoms present, seek medical help while trying to limit your exposure to others. The only accurate method of detecting if you are infected with coronavirus is having a test done that is designed specifically to detect the infection.


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Claim 2: Sipping water every 15 minutes kills coronavirus

This is simply untrue. There are a number of different ways the coronavirus can infect a person, and there is nothing to suggest that drinking water “pushes” the disease into the stomach and kills it. This is false and we have previously discussed this claim here.

Claim 3: “Tips” and “facts” about coronavirus

This list of “tips” and “facts” about coronavirus originally spread on social media as heard from by “a friend’s uncle who works at Shenzhen hospital”. While some of the claims are true or based in truth, others (such as the virus is killed at 26/27 degrees and gargling prevents infection) are false and other claims are unproven. We do not recommend circulating this portion of the message either.

Again, we discuss this portion of the message in more detail in our post here.

Overall, this message is mostly false. Please do not get your information about coronavirus from copy and paste posts on social media. Get your information from reputable outlets such as the CDC and NHS.

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