REVIEW The COVID-19 pandemic introduces an element of uncertainty regarding the dynamics of this year’s flu season. Although scientists expressed concerns about the simultaneous occurrence of the pandemic and the flu, they also observed a curious
Publication: coronavirus
Poynter→ The press skewered the White House for saying the pandemic is over. Did it actually say that?
If the pandemic has taught us nothing else, it’s that science and politics can be a dangerous brew. The national press jumped on an Oct. 27 White House press release that, by some lights, claimed victory over the coronavirus. The release, under the
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Over 220 Million Americans Have NOT Died From COVID-19 In The Last Several Months
Did over 220 million Americans die in the last several months from COVID-19? No, that's not true: That number is way too high. According to data provided by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Johns Hopkins University
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Proof That Flu Cases Are ‘Down 98% Across The Globe’
Are flu cases "down 98% across the globe"? That's unclear: Lead Stories could find no evidence to support a Twitter user's un-bolstered claim that cases fell 98% worldwide. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report shows a
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: CDC Data Do NOT ‘Reveal’ Hospitals Have Counted Heart Attacks as COVID-19 Deaths
Does Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data "reveal" that COVID-19 death totals have been exaggerated by hospitals counting heart attacks as COVID deaths? No, that's not true: Hospitals don't fill out death certificates, doctors
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Doctors Are NOT Paid To Falsify Death Certificates, Pump Up COVID Death Toll 16-fold
Are doctors being paid to falsify death certificates, pumping up the COVID-19 death toll by a factor of more than 16 times the real number? No, that's not true. The person making the claim misstates the difference between underlying and i
Health Feedback→ Masks are effective at reducing COVID-19 primary transmission through respiratory droplets; the CDC acknowledges airborne transmission via aerosols can also occur
REVIEW A 22 September 2020 video that makes several inaccurate claims about the COVID-19 pandemic went viral on Facebook in late October, receiving more than 35,000 interactions on the platform, according to the social media analytics tool CrowdTang
Health Feedback→ Volunteer who died in a COVID-19 vaccine trial in Brazil did not receive the vaccine
REVIEW News that a volunteer in the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine trial died was announced by the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA) on 21 October 2020. A review by an independent committee that oversees the trial’s safety concluded that t
Health Feedback→ Claims that flu cases are used to inflate COVID-19 case counts are misleading, based on inaccurate numbers
REVIEW Facebook posts which show a screenshot from The Ingraham Angle, a television talk show on Fox News Channel, displaying the caption “flu cases down 95%” went viral in mid-October 2020. The screenshot purportedly shows the number of flu cas
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Fauci Study Does NOT Support Claim That The ‘Unmasked Buried The Masked’ in Spanish Flu Pandemic A Century Ago
Did Dr. Anthony Fauci -- a leader of the U.S. government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic -- write a research study in 2008 that proves the unmasked buried the masked during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic and that masks were the reason
FactCheck.org→ Doctors in Video Falsely Equate COVID-19 With a ‘Normal Flu Virus’
Quick Take A video posted by a European-based group called World Doctors Alliance falsely claims the novel coronavirus is “a normal flu virus” and there is no COVID-19 pandemic. Actually, COVID-19 is deadlier than the seasonal flu, and some Europea
FactCheck.org→ Doctors in Video Falsely Equate COVID-19 With a ‘Normal Flu Virus’
Quick Take A video posted by a European-based group called World Doctors Alliance falsely claims the novel coronavirus is “a normal flu virus” and there is no COVID-19 pandemic. Actually, COVID-19 is deadlier than the seasonal flu, and some Europea
Health Feedback→ COVID-19 is more deadly and more contagious than seasonal flu and can also cause long-lasting damage to survivors
REVIEW The claim that the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that COVID-19 is no more dangerous than flu started circulating in several articles around 8 October 2020 (examples here and here). Similar versions of this claim received over 20,0
Health Feedback→ COVID-19 is more deadly and more contagious than seasonal flu and can also cause long-lasting damage to survivors
REVIEW The claim that the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that COVID-19 is no more dangerous than flu started circulating in several articles around 8 October 2020 (examples here and here). Similar versions of this claim received over 20,0
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: America’s Frontline Doctors Did NOT Prove Their Claims That Masks Don’t Work
Did an anti-mask group of doctors prove its claim that masks are "irrelevant" to the prevention of COVID-19? No, that's not true: The 19 people in white lab coats who stood in front of the U.S. Supreme Court to make the claim did not prov
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Anthony Weiner’s Laptop Did NOT Contain ‘Proof Hillary Clinton & Her Associates Are Involved In Child Trafficking And Pedophilia’
Did Anthony Weiner's laptop contain "proof Hillary Clinton & her associates are involved in child trafficking and pedophilia"? No, that's not true: The claim is part of a debunked conspiracy theory that has circulated for years. There
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Pennsylvania Did NOT Order Hunters To Wear Orange Masks
Did Pennsylvania state officials order hunters to wear orange face masks in the field? No, that's not true: The Pennsylvania Game Commission said it has not issued such an order. A similar claim for New York hunters also is not true. The
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: N.Y. Gov. Cuomo Did NOT Order Hunters To Wear An Orange Face Mask
Did New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo order all hunters in the state to wear an orange face mask while in the field? No, that's not true: There have been no announcements from the governor's office or the state agency that regulates hunters that
Logically→ Biden: One in five minority businesses closed due to COVID-19
Businesses owned by minorities faced significantly more temporary disclosures than non-minority businesses amid the pandemic
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Biden Did NOT Say If He Is Elected President He Will Lock Down The Country Until A Vaccine Is Ready And Everyone Is Vaccinated
Did Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden say if he is elected president, he will lock down the country until a vaccine is ready and everyone is vaccinated? No, that's not true: It's a fake quote. Although Biden has said he would list
Health Feedback→ No evidence that coronavirus genetic sequences were fabricated, contrary to preprint by Li-Meng Yan and colleagues
REVIEW Uncertainty surrounding the origin of the novel coronavirus has provided fertile ground for breeding conspiracy theories, some of which Health Feedback previously found to be inaccurate and unsubstantiated (see here and here). The recent clai
Logically→ 85% of the people that wear masks catch Coronavirus.
President Trump misleadingly quoted the CDC report. The report does not state that 85% of the mask wearers contract COVID-19.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: President Donald Trump Is NOT Dead
Did U.S. President Donald Trump die of COVID-19 October 12, 2020? No, that's not true: President Trump appeared on NBC in a live town hall, which ended at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 15, 2020. The claim appeared in an Instagram post (a
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: CDC Report Did NOT Say Masks Are Ineffective In Preventing Spread Of COVID-19
Did a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report conclude masks are not effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19? No, that's not true: The study concluded new safety measures are needed at dining establishments because e
Poynter→ Fact-check: Will a COVID-19 vaccine alter your DNA?
The post Fact-check: Will a COVID-19 vaccine alter your DNA? appeared first on Poynter.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Former Pfizer Scientist NOT Correct Saying ‘Second Wave’ Based on False-Positive COVID Tests, ‘Pandemic is Over’
Is it true that the COVID-19 pandemic has ended, that false positives and rapid tests put the rate of infection near zero and that there will be no second wave of infections? No, none of those claims is true. Experts treating and research
Health Feedback→ Mask use does not lead to a higher risk of COVID-19 as viral social media posts claim
REVIEW Misinformation aimed at discouraging mask use has been prolific during the COVID-19 pandemic, as detailed in several reviews by Health Feedback. Another claim that masks do not work or that they make people more likely to have COVID-19 began
Poynter→ No, face masks don’t ‘collect’ the coronavirus
If your time is short The post inaccurately summarizes a CDC report. In reality, the report found a correlation between regular mask wearing and lower COVID-19 transmission. Scientific studies have consistently found that face-mask use is one of the mo
Poynter→ Trump says he may now be ‘immune’ to the coronavirus. Here’s what we know about COVID-19 and immunity.
If your time is short Scientists have been working hard to understand COVID-19, but there’s still a lot they don’t know about immunity after recovery, and how long it lasts. Longer immune responses are associated with more serious illness. There’
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Certainty 2020 Will End With Fewer Total U.S. Deaths Than 2018 And 2019
Is it true that, even with the coronavirus pandemic, the United States is on pace to have fewer total deaths this year than in both 2018 and 2019? No, a rough estimate doesn't account for the complexity of seasonal changes in death rates.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Embryonic Stem Cells Were NOT Used In The Development of Regeneron Antibody Treatment
Were embryonic stem cells used in the development of Regeneron, the antibody treatment given to President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, the company behind the antibody cocktail, told Lead Stories that it di
Health Feedback→ Mortality in the U.S. was more than 280,000 higher during the first eight months of 2020 than any of the previous five years over the same period
REVIEW A recurring claim during the COVID-19 pandemic is that the mortality in 2020 is similar to that of previous years. Such allegations downplay the extent and seriousness of the pandemic by suggesting that COVID-19 has no impact on the overall n
Poynter→ Do these hoaxes about Trump and COVID-19 look familiar? That’s because they are
Factually is a newsletter about fact-checking and misinformation from Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network & the American Press Institute’s Accountability Project. Sign up here. Déjà vu: Hoaxers turn to the same tactics all over agai
Logically→ U.S. allies respect Xi Jinping over Donald Trump, according to Pew Research Center.
Although Xi Jinping's ratings are low, U.S. allies have more confidence in him than Donald Trump, a Pew Research Center study found
Logically→ The US’s death rate is 2.5 times that of Canada.
Data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center shows that Canada's deaths/100k population stands at 25.86 while the figure for the US is 64.46. Canada has 258.56 deaths per million whereas the U.S. has 642.29 deaths per million, acc
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: White House Doctors Have NOT Said Trump Recovered From COVID In Four Days
Did President Trump contract COVID-19 and recover from it in four days? No, that's not true: The timeline is subject to debate, but White House statements indicate the president tested positive on October 1, 2020. Trump announced Oct. 7,
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Trump Did NOT Say Doctors Have Never Seen A Body Kill Coronavirus Like His, Nor That He Has ‘USA’ Instead Of DNA
In a video update on his medical condition, did President Donald Trump say he has "USA" instead of DNA and that doctors never saw a body kill coronavirus the way his does? No, that's not true: There is no record of Trump saying that and h
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: The White House Doctor Did NOT Say Trump Is Virus-Free
Did the White House doctor say there is zero evidence of a live virus in President Trump? No, that's not true. In word and deed, the White House and Dr. Sean P. Conley have made it clear the president is infected with COVID-19, likely inf
Poynter→ After contracting COVID-19, Trump was dinged by platforms for spreading coronavirus misinformation
PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox weekly, click here. This edition of Coronavirus Facts is coming to you a day early because… well… *gest
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Joe Biden DID Say ‘Some Black Woman Was Able To Keep The Grocery Shelves Stocked’ But Not To Demean
Did Joe Biden say "The reason I was able to stay home during the pandemic is because some Black woman was able to keep the grocery shelves stocked?" Yes, that is true, but in its context it's clear Biden was praising, not demeaning Black