The Statement
Video sharing platform YouTube has begun taking down videos linking 5G with COVID-191 in an effort to stop false information spreading but theories claiming a link between the virus and telecommunications technologies are still spreading on Facebook.
A widely shared April 5 Facebook post2 seeks to correlate "the introduction of radio waves" and wireless cellular technologies with various outbreaks of disease.
The Facebook post infers the correlations as follows: "5G launched, COVID-19 2019. 4G launched, H1N1 2009. 3G launched, Influenza 1998. 2G Launched, Cholera 1991. 1G launched, influenza 1979".
It then goes on to state "The introduction of radio waves caused the Spanish flu of 1918".
The post then asks: "Do you see a pattern? Every time the world gets an upgrade on its electromagnetic field it messes people breathing up clearly".
The April 5 Facebook post3 has been viewed 31,000 times, shared over 200 times and attracted over 80 comments.
The Analysis
The April 5 Facebook 4post seeks to correlate various disease outbreaks with the rollout of new telecommunications technologies, starting with: "5G launched, COVID-19 2019".
According to American telecommunications and technology company QualComm, 5G is currently commercially available in only 33 countries around the world5 including Australia. COVID-19 infections, however, have been recorded in 184 countries and regions, including two cruise ships, as of April 9, 2020, 6according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine COVID-19 Map.
The Facebook post then goes on to state: "4G launched, H1N1 2009".
Australia recorded 37,357 confirmed cases of the H1N1, also known as Swine Flu, and reported 191 deaths as a result7 of the virus in 2009, according to the federal Department of Health8. However, the country's first commercial rollout of 4G technology didn't occur until two years later in 20119.
The post then claims both 3G and 1G occurred at the same time as influenza outbreaks in 1998 and 1979 respectively.
According to the World Health Organization,10 there are four types of seasonal influenza viruses, A, B, C and D. Influenza A and B circulate yearly, with annual epidemics estimated to result in between three and five million cases of severe illness and 290,000 to 650,000 deaths per year11. The 3G network was switched on in Australia in 200312 not 1998 and the 1G network was rolled out in 198713 not 1979, as claimed by the April 5 Facebook post14.
The post also says: "2G Launched, Cholera 1991".
According to the Victorian Department of Health, Australia records between two and six cases of Cholera each year15. People are typically infected in places where the disease is endemic like parts of Africa, South East Asia and South America16. The 2G network was rolled out in Australia on April 27, 199317 -- not 1991.
Also note that, while the post claims changes in technology "messes people up breathing clearly", Cholera is a bacterial infection, spread by contaminated water or food, that causes severe diarrhoea and dehydration18.
The post then says: "The introduction of radio waves caused the Spanish flu of 1918".
The Spanish Flu hit Australia's shores in early January 1919, infected about 40 per cent of the population and killed 15,000 people by the time it had dissipated at the end of 191919. Australia's inaugural commercial radio broadcast occurred in 192320, when audiences across Sydney tuned in to hear the St Andrew Choir perform 'The Swan' by Saint Saens21, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation22.
The post finally claims: "Every time the world gets an upgrade on its electromagnetic field it messes people breathing up clearly".
Experts from around the world23 have come out to debunk the theory24, including Australia's Chief Medical Officer, Brendan Murphy. "There is no evidence telecommunication technologies, such as 5G, cause adverse health impacts," he said in a January 24 statement25.
The body responsible for protecting Australians from radiation exposure, The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA26), said in a March 20, 2019 statement27 the radiation emitted by 5G technology is well below levels that could harm humans.
"It is the assessment of ARPANSA and international organisations such as the World Health Organisation 28(WHO) and the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation (ICNIRP)29 that there is no established scientific evidence to support any adverse health effects from very low RF EME exposures to populations or individuals," the statement reads.
An April 2020 statement 30from ARPANSA says that studies of the effects of low-level radio wave exposure, such as from 5G telecommunications "have not provided evidence of changes in immune function".
"There is no established evidence that low level radio wave exposure from 5G and other wireless telecommunications can affect the immune system or cause any other long term or short term health effects," the statement says.
