“Could a Zombie Apocalypse be triggered by 5G towers in the near future?” questioned the influencer associated with the QAnon movement, operating a Telegram channel known as The Patriot Voice. This channel boasts a following of over 50,000 individuals, and the inquiry was posted at the end of September. The assertion referenced an alleged statement from a so-called military expert, suggesting that Covid-19 vaccines contain “sealed pathogens,” such as E. coli bacteria, Marburg virus, and Ebola virus, which could supposedly be unleashed through an “18 Gigahertz 5G frequency.”
The post continued with a warning: “FEMA is planning a ‘test’ of the EBS on either Oct 4 or 11 at 2:22 PM. I strongly advise turning OFF ALL 5G devices,” the author concluded. Similar claims regarding a test alert that could “activate” lethal diseases within vaccinated individuals, accompanied by warnings to power down phones, have garnered hundreds of thousands of views on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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However, the accuracy of these statements is highly questionable, except for one fact: the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Federal Communications Commission are indeed conducting tests of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) on October 4th.
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(The Emergency Broadcast System, or EBS, was replaced by the EAS in 1997.) The wireless segment of the test, scheduled for approximately 2:20 PM Eastern Time, will be directed to all consumer cell phones and will contain a simple message: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” At most, it may elicit mild surprise or annoyance, but it certainly won’t transform anyone into a zombie (a phenomenon the often fatal Marburg virus doesn’t cause, in any case).
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One Reddit user expressed concerns: “My family believes the end is near,” on the subreddit r/QAnonCasualties, where people discuss their loved ones’ involvement in the conspiratorial QAnon movement. According to the user’s father, on October 4th at 2 PM EST, the government plans to employ the Emergency Broadcast System to transmit a frequency that will activate RFID chips in vaccinated individuals, heralding the beginning of the “great replacement.”
The notion that vaccines contain radio frequency identification tags, allowing elites like Bill Gates or George Soros to track individuals, is a falsehood often intertwined with concerns about 5G networks.
“The Great Replacement” is a white nationalist conspiracy theory alleging that white citizens in Western nations are being systematically replaced by nonwhite immigrants. Racist mass shooters have cited this concept in their manifestos.
Another Reddit user reported, “My [mom] just told me in a panic, that on Oct. 4th, Joe Biden will use cell phones to attack the whole population of the United States, something about a frequency that can harm and kill.”
The user’s mother advised wrapping the cell phone in aluminum foil and placing it in the microwave for the day. However, even if FEMA were transmitting nefarious 5G signals to your phone, a microwave’s Faraday shields (the technology that keeps microwave radiation inside the oven) wouldn’t prevent them from passing through. Microwaves are not perfect Faraday cages and can “leak”; if you put your phone inside and call it, it will probably still ring.
Others have envisioned even more drastic scenarios and are taking extreme precautions. One TikTok user alarmed by the October 4th test alert shared a clip from the 2016 sci-fi horror film “Cell,” where a mysterious signal received by phones turns their owners into rabid killers.
Another conspiracy theorist anticipates a complete internet blackout and advises withdrawing money from bank accounts before systems go down.
Additionally, a Reddit user posted screenshots of a text conversation with a concerned landlord who announced plans to cut power to multiple apartments for several hours and warned tenants against looking at screens during that time, citing the potential dangers of light.
It’s unlikely that any of these dire predictions will materialize on October 4th, but this is unlikely to deter true believers from making similar claims in the future.
In the realms of QAnon and anti-vaccine communities, many prophesied dates have come and gone without the expected upheavals: Donald Trump did not replace Biden as president, John F. Kennedy Jr. did not return to life, and vaccines did not cause mass casualties. However, these communities tend to move on to the next narrative undeterred.
For the record, your phone continuously transmits 5G signals every day, even as you text others about the perceived dangers of 5G.
Just something to keep in mind.
