A copy of an unsigned letter dated March 7 started circulating on the Internet four days later. The letter said that following "extensive research, our findings show consuming alcoholic beverages may help to reduce the risk of infection by the novel coronavirus...." It went on to recommend vodka for "drinking, cleaning and sanitizing."
If this "alcohol can ward off the virus" myth weren't being taken seriously by some people, maybe we could dismiss it as a joke. COVID-19 infections and how to prevent them is no laughing matter.
In Iran, as reported in USA Today on March 10 - the day before the item surfaced on a Facebook post we found - 44 people died from bootleg alcohol they were drinking as a cure for COVID-19.
The real danger in contracting the COVID-19 virus is that it can get into your lungs and lead to pneumonia. According to the CDC, the alarm was raised about coronavirus after patients died of "cases of pneumonia of unknown cause ... reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China."
Alcohol can be used to disinfect surfaces and kill COVID-19, and some distilleries are making hand sanitizer to address the shortage. But drinking it will not provide any protection against this virus. And it may even make you more susceptible.
And there's more bad news about alcohol and viruses. According to a 2015 study published in the journal Alcohol Research, "excessive alcohol consumption" is associated with "adverse immune-related health effects such as susceptibility to pneumonia."
Let's get this straight: Consuming alcohol does not kill the coronavirus and St. Luke's Hospital of Kansas City never said it did.
"It's not authentic and it's not true at all," said Lindsey Stich, a spokeswoman for the Missouri-based hospital system. The hospital debunked the letter soon after it hit the Internet, but not all posts have been removed.
We rate the claim that alcohol will help reduce the risk of coronavirus as FALSE because the letter stating it was fake and because the ruling is supported by our research.
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