An interesting theory, to say the least…
If you’re one of the few who seems to have avoided Covid-19 infection so far, one doctor has a theory as to why that may be.
Posting on Facebook last week, the top doctor, who is also vice president of the Korean Vaccine Society, claimed that if you’ve so far managed to avoid the infectious virus, it’s likely because you have no friends.
In his post, he said: “The adults who have not yet been infected with COVID-19 are those who have interpersonal problems.”
Ma Sang-hyuk has since deleted the post and retracted his somewhat controversial comments, sharing that they were meant “metaphorically”, claims news site Daily.
This comes as new strains Deltacron and Stealth Omicron cause a rise in cases globally. (Read up on the Omicron symptoms, here).
His comments quickly went viral and divided opinion.
Sorry, I’m confused. When did the narrative shift from “keep your family, friends and immunocompromised people safe” to ‘you’re a loser with no friends and life if you haven’t had covid’…
We still ARE in a global pandemic. It hasn’t just vanished. People are still dying. Wtf..
— Jess⁷ 💜Happy MinMarch💜 (@SugaRushJ_D7) March 26, 2022
So if you haven’t caught Covid *and* you’ve been in working in ICU the whole time does this mean you have no friends and you’re also not pulling your weight at work 😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/PuQfXBL9FR
— Dr Rosie Baruah (@rosieICM) March 26, 2022
Expanding on his initial comments after the post went viral, he said: “[My post] emphasised how difficult it is for anyone to avoid the virus in a situation where there is a high rate of confirmed cases in the area.”
However, many have pointed out that they caught Covid despite not seeing friends, with others quick to point out that the reason they’d avoided the virus was not that they hadn’t seen friends, but been generally careful to wear a mask, wash their hands regularly, social distance when seeing others, and so on.
One nurse – doctor Rosie Baruah – pointed out that, following Sang-hyuk’s reasoning, not having caught Covid-19 yet must mean she’s not pulling her weight on the busy ICU ward that she works in, too.
On the other hand, some Twitter users shared that they agreed with the doctor’s sentiment – that they believe they haven’t caught the virus so far because they’ve limited their social interaction over the past few years.
I mean, I hate the sentiment, but I also have to say it’s kinda true..
Not necessarily having “no friends”, but lacking in social interaction – I didn’t get COVID until I started going out with friends again, not to say I had no friends before that, but I didn’t see them IRL.. pic.twitter.com/ATd39QSA1V
— Luna 🏳️🌈🇬🇧🇺🇦 (@LunaNotLunar_) March 26, 2022
However, the majority of responses marked the doctors comments as insensitive.
Scientists believe that two new strains of the Omicron variant – Deltacron and Stealth Omicron – are responsible for the rising cases in both the UK and globally.
It’s important to note that this is just one medical professional’s opinion and that, so far, the claim has been widely debunked. Given that he deleted the post, we’d further assume that he didn’t have much medical backing for his claim, or hadn’t thought about how the claim might be taken, given that, as per JHU CSSE COVID-19 Data and Our World in Data stats, 165 thousand people have died from the virus in the UK alone.
What do you reckon?
