- Already accused, before the coronavirus epidemic, of being dangerous for health, 5G technology has, for a few months, been considered by certain internet users as at the origin of the epidemic.
- In recent days, a viral video showing an alleged antenna installer revealing an electronic component bearing the mention "Cov-19" has fueled this theory.
- However, it has no scientific basis, and the images in question do not prove the words of the English-speaking videographer.
Should we expect to see new mobile phone antennas burnt down thanks to a viral video linking 5G technology to the coronavirus epidemic?
In recent days, on Facebook, as on Twitter and on YouTube, images filmed near an antenna have had a major impact, especially among Internet users opposed to the deployment of 5G. They believe, even before the appearance of the Covid-19, that this technology faster than 4G would pose a threat to health.
"Incredible ... A 5G antenna installer finds the name" COV-19 "written on a component of the equipment," summarizes a Facebook post taking up this video shot in the language of Shakespeare. The videographer who takes the stage, equipped with a construction helmet and a protective mask, presents himself as an installer of 5G antennas: “I have been installing 5G antennas on pylons for several weeks like the one you see behind me, while everyone is confined. "
"And we do not open these kits, because we were explicitly asked not to do so, but the best is perhaps that I show it to you", he continues before showing an electronic component whose corner upper left is marked "Cov-19". "I do not know of any material produced by any company that creates such electrical circuits with the mention" Cov-19 ". I am not a fan of conspiracy theories. Admittedly, I read everything that is found online on the coronavirus and the Covid-19 (sic) but why do they put circuits like that in these pylons? I don't understand, ”concludes the man.
However, in addition to the fact that no link between the coronavirus epidemic and 5G is supported by the slightest scientific evidence or rational element, as telecom operators and specialists in different countries have repeatedly pointed out. In recent weeks - as we also explained at the beginning of April - this video has no longer contained any convincing evidence which would support the speech of its author.
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If we were not able to identify the country in which the video was filmed, several visible elements in this sequence undermine the videographer's assertions, as explained to 20 Minutes Gilles Brégant, director of the National Frequency Agency (ANFR): “This pylon is not specific to 5G. We can see conventional mobile telephony antennas at the base, but the rest is irrelevant: radio-relay systems, FM, etc. It is a multi-purpose pylon which has not been built for mobile telephony, because if c 'was the case, the antennas would be at the top, it makes no economic or technical sense to build a pylon 40 meters high to place the antennas 20 meters from the ground. This pylon was probably installed for something else - television or FM - and, over the years, the company that built it rented it for other uses in order to make its investment grow. "
" There are two types of antennas 5G: MIMO antennas, those that will be used with the 3.5 GHz band and above, and conventional antennas used in the bandsfrom 2G to 5G, which can become 5G one day but which does not necessarily require a change of antenna. Here, there is nothing, on the pylon, which corresponds to the more voluminous MIMO boxes ”, continues the director of the ANFR.
In addition, as recalled by the French Telecom Company on its site explaining why the links established between 5G and coronavirus have no concrete basis, "the waves used by 5G are of the same nature as 2G, 3G and 4G and those of TV and radio: there is no scientific evidence to explain why a biological disease could be favored by exposure to radio frequencies that have existed for decades. "
"Cov-19", a meaningless name
The electrical circuit board carrying the mention “Cov-19” brandished by the alleged technician in no way proves the installation - completed or in progress - of a 5G antenna. “The card does not really seem linked to mobile telephony. According to our specialists, it in no way resembles a professional card, but rather a card extracted from a consumer electronics device, which would moreover have a certain age, given its low density. In addition, its shape is absolutely not compatible with the bays of mobile base stations, which are much wider because they are plugged into "racks" to the computer standard, as in data centers ", explains Gilles Brégant .
As the fact-checking site Lead Stories noted, a name is briefly visible on the electronic circuit board at the end of the video: "Hannstar", a company that produces LCD monitors in particular.
Finally, in addition to the absurd reasoning on which the video is based - and which implies that companies installing 5G antennas to broadcast the Covid-19 would take care to clearly display this goal by affixing the words "Cov-19" on their equipment - the name "Cov-19" does not, directly or indirectly, refer to the coronavirus. As the Pasteur Institute recalls, it was first of all primarily designated under the name of “2019-nCoV” then under its scientific name of “SARS-CoV-2” before the WHO baptized it officially "Covid-19" in February 2020.
"This recent name is incompatible with the design and production cycle of electronic cards, which is around 12 to 18 months between the transition from the design office to industrial production: difficult to develop, early 2019 , a card mentioning "Cov-19" to summarize a name that will not be invented until a year later! "Concludes Gilles Brégant.
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