There is a flood of new COVID-19 information available online and on social media every day, and not all of it is reliable. In this series, the Independent will try to separate common COVID myths and misconceptions from truth using information from the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and World Health Organization, as well as studies from Johns Hopkins and Yale.
COVID has become a deep-seated part of everyday life. It’s no surprise that the uncertainty and sheer amount of cases have sent people searching for anything that could help prevent and treat symptoms of the virus.
With a segment of the population still hesitant to get vaccinated — the latest numbers estimate 26.1 percent of eligible residents in the county have yet to receive any vaccine — some unconventional treatments have popped up on the internet.