Whatsapp Coronavirus Hoax?

I received a Whatsapp chain message about the Corona virus and how to handle it. It is purported to have come from some very knowledgeable doctor, so I guess that makes it official. The main points are:

1. Be afraid, be very afraid, but don't panic.

2. Always use your mask. Always, never take it off.

3. Maintain social distancing

4. Use hand sanitizing gel after touching anything.

5. Wash your hands like as if you had touched something very yucky.

6. Never introduce anything into your house if it hasn't been washed.

7. Pretend you have some skin disease and bathe constantly.

No I would like to make a few points about this:

1. Be afraid. This was also used during the AIDS pandemic and it did work, people were afraid. AIDS still went on to kill millions, and is still killing them. So I don't think be afraid is a good advise, be careful with what you do would be better.

2. This mask thing is really a wavering path sort of thing, first they told us to wear a mask so we wouldn't catch the disease, then they said the mask was no good for not catching the disease but wearing it stopped you from spreading the disease, and now it is mandatory to wear a mask if you go out in the streets.

3. This one I guess is OK, even though I don't know how they figured out the distance, does this mean that if I go closer than exactly four and a half feet I catch it? Suppose I just get an inch closer? But overall I believe this rule is ok, sometimes people just bump into you and it gets out of hand, even fights result from this getting too close.

4. Sanitizing gels kill microbes and bacteria, they don't kill viruses, so what is the benefit?

5. Washing your hands is a good idea, I hate having my hands dirty, but let's face it you can't go around washing your hands at all times of the day.

6. This one is just crazy, you can't sanitize everything that goes into your house, you try it, you will find it just can't be done.

7. I guess this could be a good idea but there is one reason it won't work which I will explain in the next paragraph.

The last three points are about washing everything and yourself as much as possible every day. This is just plain stupid, even if this idea had any merit, it is impossible to do. In the poorer areas and even some richer ones of any city in the world, there is always an acute shortage of water, and in these areas people don't by purified water they drink whatever is available, and there is always a water shortage. So what do you really think a person living in these areas would do: drink his fill of water or use it to wash everything?

So, all in all I think this Whatsapp chain is just another way of keeping people, as the first point says, scared. A scared population is a malleable population, and I believe that is just the way they want us. I guess everyone must have an idea of who "They" are.