As more governments de­clare a state of emergency and businesses close to limit the spread of COVID-19, the world has shifted into a state of crisis.

Social distancing has in­creasingly become the new norm, but conspiracy theories are also on the rise as people search for an explanation.

Experiencing a pandemic for the first time has made people more nervous than usual. People like to feel in control of their lives, how­ever, that sense of security is eroded when our daily lives are interrupted and stopping the spread of COVID-19 seems impossible.

Take the people around the world panic buying food and toilet paper. Although this gives people some control over their immediate well-be­ing, it can cause real supply shortages as a collective ac­tion.

Another way people try to regain their personal agency is by searching for an easy explanation and someone to blame. Conspiracy theories can help their believers reas­sert control over an unstable and complex situation, such as a pandemic, by offering a simple answer.

Some have already claimed the coronavirus came from space — which is not true — but this just shows the lengths people are willing to go to find an explanation.

In reality, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has a pretty unevent­ful origin compared to the conspiracy theories already surrounding it. Coronavirus­es are zoonotic, meaning the virus was transmitted from an animal species to humans. This is what is suspected to have happened in a seafood market in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

But this seemingly random zoonotic beginning hardly competes with the idea that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is ac­tually a biological weapon manufactured in a lab. Sus­picion is misdirected at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, with rumours claiming the vi­rus was either intentionally or accidentally released.

Believing that the novel coronavirus is the product of human engineering is tanta­lizing because it makes the emerging pathogen seem less like a chaotic force of nature while providing a scapegoat.

Despite how believable these explanations might be, research has debunked the theory. Furthermore, past coronaviruses such as MERS and SARS both had zoonotic origins. And there are sever­al identified coronaviruses in animals that have not yet in­fected humans.

However, some Chinese officials have flipped this conspiracy theory around to deflect blame for the pandem­ic with a counterclaim that the virus is a bioweapon in­flicted against them. Chinese propaganda is now pushing a conspiracy that the United States’ military released the coronavirus in Wuhan.

In response to these state-sponsored rumours, President Donald Trump has deliberately been calling COVID-19 the “Chinese vi­rus.” Trump claims this term is not racist and strictly refers to its country of origin, but many fear the term is stoking xenophobia during a global crisis.

While conspiracy theories can help individuals ratio­nalize the randomness of the world during this pandemic, they are increasingly being used as political tools to mis­direct citizens’ anxieties.

A statement made by public health scientists from around the world has condemned ru­mours and misinformation, suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural ori­gin.

“Conspiracy theories do nothing but create fear, ru­mours and prejudice that jeopardize our global collab­oration in the fight against the virus,” the statement said.

The fact that so many con­spiracies have quickly aris­en shows that our society is plagued by worse things than emerging viruses — misin­formation.

However, stopping the coronavirus is not out of our control. In fact, it is very de­pendent on each individual to be responsible and practice social distancing to help flat­ten the curve.

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Noah Callaghan | Staff Writer

Photo: Flickr / Indrid__Cold