At the start of the pandemic, I gargled salt water every day. 

A message that circulated around several of my mom’s Viber group chats claimed that gargling warm salt water helps eliminate COVID-19 from our bodies by stopping the virus’ path to our lungs. I found it a bit silly to think that salt would stop a virus that has killed millions, causing one of the biggest global crises in recent memory. If anything at least, it relieved my parents of their anxiety of contracting the virus.

So, the dainty pot of rock salt next to my family’s kitchen sink stayed.

My hunch was correct, for the most part, as articles debunking this household remedy started popping up on my news feed. Although an ongoing study from Scotland found that gargling salt water did help alleviate some COVID-19 symptoms, the practice does nothing to stop transmission.

This was months ago; thousands of home cures have circulated across the internet since then, each somehow more ridiculous than the last. This prompted the World Health Organization to release a Mythbuster page that debunked common misconceptions about the virus. Companies like Facebook and Viber have made attempts to intensify fact-checking protocols as well.

Now, COVID-19 vaccines have begun to roll out across the world and misleading information regarding them has spread just as quickly. Easily-misinterpreted headlines and fearmongering Facebook posts are among the worst offenders of this, especially since these may be taken out of context quite easily.

Such was the case when the deaths of 13 elderly in Norway went viral. Although it was proven that their vaccines did not cause their deaths, the damage has already been done. While this is just a small fraction of the root of vaccine hesitancy, the hesitation has since snowballed into more and more people hesitating to get their jabs.

We are living in a time with not one but two pandemics: Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, a misinformation pandemic looms closely over us, whether we realize it or not. 

We all want to get the COVID-19 pandemic over with; the record-time vaccine rollouts and salt water gargling are evidence enough of our desperation, but easy, short term solutions will not get us anywhere—no matter how much we beg. I never thought I would long for 8 AM classes and (dare I say) the greasy smell of JSEC—and it is exactly this desperation that makes us more vulnerable to misinformation. As we grapple for days where we no longer have to read the words “new normal” in excess, the most we can do is read beyond headlines and be critical of the information we share.

My family no longer keeps rock salt next to our kitchen sink. It has since been replaced with circulars and public service announcements regarding vaccine registration for residents in my barangay. I hesitate to believe that many of our decisions on this matter will be swayed by fake news and chain messages, but unfortunately, this may be the case if we do not listen hard enough.