People in India are smearing cow dung and urine over their bodies hoping it will boost their immunity against COVID-19 as second wave of the crisis worsens. Cows are of special significance to Hindus, who see them as a sacred symbol of life and the earth. Hindus believe cow dung has therapeutic and antiseptic properties. Doctors in India are warning against the practice.
Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) feels he is now immune to COVID since he knows how to smear dung. At a congressional hearing about COVID-19 Senator Paul seemed to imply that Dr. Anthony Fauci engineered the pandemic. It is a line of questioning that appeared to play to conspiracy theories that are circulating on the internet. He went on about gain of function research which would “juice up” super viruses and he claimed the United States was funding such research in creating deadly weaponized viruses. Dr. Fauci’s response to the Senators conspiracy theories was, ” Senator you are entirely and completely incorrect.” Fauci continued, “We have not funded gain of function research on this virus in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. No matter how many times you say it, it didn’t happen.”
Research is still being done to find the exact cause of the COVID-19 virus. The virus probably originated in bats, but how it passed to people is being investigated. Researchers are keeping an open mind about how the pandemic started and will not exclude any scenarios, including the unlikely one that the virus accidentally escaped from a laboratory. Considerable time has passed since the emergence of COVID-19, and many people only have mild or no symptoms, which will make it challenging to identify the first infected person.
In another hearing Rand Paul characterized of wearing masks as “theater.” This folly of dung came before the CDC said that vaccinated individuals could remove their masks when outside and indoor in certain situations. Back then Fauci advised caution, allowing scientists time to study the new variants now circulating in the U.S. and other countries. Even today some think that the variants from Brazil, Africa and India can evade vaccines causing breakthrough cases. America and particularly Florida have been very lax in offering safety protocols to slow the spread of the virus. Any time the numbers of cases go down Governors are quick to ease all safety measures and then of course there are surges in cases. Government only seems able to react rather than plan ahead.