I learned that it wasnt a beleif, in like somewhere from the 1500’s -1899 there was some sort of bug going around, brought by all the new immigrants in america, in short one guy brought it and it spread, the bug was where if you sneezed you died, something like that. It only went on forca short while then stopped and they never discorvered the reason.
You know the song ‘ring around the rosies’ that was made during the time of the bug. Its about kids playing in the flowers, and it makes them sneeze and they a die, thats why jews like to sing ‘Ring around the Torah/Mitzvos’