REVIEW Widespread public health measures have been implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce the spread of the disease. Posts like this meme on Instagram claiming that measures such as vaccination, wearing face masks or gloves, or f
Search Results (589) for: excess
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Vladimir Putin Did NOT Reveal ‘The West Is Controlled By Satanic Pedophiles’
Did Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, reveal that "the West is controlled by Satanic pedophiles"? No, that's not true: Putin never made this statement nor did he use the phrase "Satanic pedophiles." The claim appeared in an article
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: The CDC Website DOES Show Age And Other Conditions For People Who Died From COVID-19
Is it true ages and pre-existing medical conditions for U.S. residents who died from COVID-19 are not available? No, that's not true: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website shows ages, additional medical conditi
FactCheck.org→ Meme Distorts Facts on Annual Death Statistics
Quick Take An image circulating on social media erroneously claims that the total number of deaths in the U.S. this year is significantly down compared to previous years. The meme — which implies COVID-19 restrictions weren’t needed —
Truth or Fiction?→ Did a Lawyer’s Affidavit Mistake Michigan for Minnesota?
As the Trump administration’s attempts to overturn the election continued on November 20 2020, attorney Andrew Fleischman highlighted a possible error in an affidavit filed by lawyer Lin Wood in which a sworn expert apparently confused Minnesota
Health Feedback→ Non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as lockdowns and wearing face masks, are effective measures to reduce COVID-19 transmission, contrary to claims in viral video
REVIEW This video, published on 13 November 2020 by the student activism organization Young Americans for Liberty (YAL), features the historian Tom Woods in a 7 November symposium in Texas. In it, Woods presents the COVID-19 pandemic and the public
Health Feedback→ There is no evidence supporting the claim that preexisting T cell immunity reduces COVID-19 mortality and infection rate; such cross-reactive T cells predate the pandemic
REVIEW Claims questioning the mortality or death toll from COVID-19 have recurrently appeared since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020. A video published in October 2020 by chiropractor Eric Berg, who is not a medical doctor and has no backgrou
FactCheck.org→ Trump Baselessly Suggests COVID-19 Deaths Inflated for Profit
During a campaign rally in Wisconsin, President Donald Trump questioned the reported numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the U.S. by describing a purported “incentive” to report cases and deaths, because “doctors get more money an
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
Full Fact→ Facebook post about falling flu and pneumonia deaths is wrong
A widely shared post on Facebook claims to show official government statistics for deaths caused by flu and pneumonia in England and Wales. It claims that these deaths dropped sharply this year, and appears to suggest they have been replaced by or re-c
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: The Term ‘Hungover’ Did NOT Originate From Drunken Sailors Sleeping Over A Rope
Did the term "hungover" originate from a practice of allowing drunks to drape their bodies across a rope overnight for the price of a penny in Victorian England? No, that's not entirely true: The term hungover -- and its noun form, hangov
FactCheck.org→ FactChecking the Final 2020 Presidential Debate
Summary President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden faced off in the final presidential debate of the campaign. We found: Trump accused Biden of receiving “$3.5 million from Russia.” There’s no evidence of that. Biden said there
Health Feedback→ The group Doctors for Truth spreads misinformation about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus, and the reliability of diagnostic tests
REVIEW A video showing a press conference from a group calling itself Doctors for Truth circulated on social media in mid-October 2020, receiving hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. In this conference, several individuals made claims about th
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
Full Fact→ London Mayor candidate wrong to claim Covid-19 pandemic is no worse than a flu season
“The politicians and the media have a very, very poor understanding of science and mathematics and they’ve pursued and pushed a narrative that the coronavirus—Covid-19—is far, far worse and more dangerous than it actually is. T
FactCheck.org→ FactChecking Trump’s Town Hall
In an Oct. 15 town hall on NBC News, President Donald Trump made false and misleading claims on the coronavirus, the economy and more: Trump was wrong when he said a recent study found “85% of the people who wear masks catch” the coronavirus. The
FactCheck.org→ Trump Revives False Narrative on Biden and Ukraine
At a campaign rally in Iowa, President Donald Trump cited an unsubstantiated news report to revive a widely debunked false narrative about Joe Biden’s work in Ukraine on behalf of the Obama administration. As we have reported more than once las
FactCheck.org→ Trump Distorts WHO’s Lockdown Comments
At campaign rallies and in tweets, President Donald Trump falsely said the World Health Organization changed its position and “admitted that Donald Trump was right” about lockdowns. But the agency has said no such thing. The president first made th
Snopes→ Study: Health Systems, Govt Responses Linked to Virus Tolls
The study published in Nature Medicine modeled "excess mortality" in 19 European countries, New Zealand, and Australia to compare the effectiveness of counter-measures.
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.
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
FactCheck.org→ Trump’s COVID-19 Misinformation Since Testing Positive
Even after contracting the coronavirus and being hospitalized, President Donald Trump has continued to downplay the risks of COVID-19 and exaggerate the progress the U.S. has made in fighting the pandemic. Trump told Americans to not let the coronavir
FactCheck.org→ Timeline of Trump’s COVID-19 Comments
President Donald Trump announced in the early hours of Oct. 2 that he and the first lady had tested positive for COVID-19. By late afternoon, the White House said that “out of an abundance of caution” the president was taken to Walter Reed
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: The CDC Did NOT Declare COVID Less Fatal Than Flu When Revising Public Health Disaster Plans
Did the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention downgrade COVID-19, rating it less fatal than seasonal flu? No, that's not true: The Sept. 10, 2020, document used as "proof" clearly states it is not a source of COVID data, and tha
Health Feedback→ In spite of its relatively small infection fatality ratio, COVID-19 has led to many deaths due to high virus transmission
REVIEW The claim that the COVID-19 pandemic response has been unwarranted has taken many forms. Some involved misleading comparisons with other respiratory diseases like the flu and tuberculosis, while others relied on misinterpretations of COVID-19
FactCheck.org→ FactChecking Trump’s Weekend Claims
On Sept. 26 and 27, President Donald Trump spoke for about two hours and 15 minutes in five appearances — including one campaign rally in Middletown, Pennsylvania. We’ve compiled many of the president’s false and misleading claims fro
Health Feedback→ Using face masks correctly does not increase the risk of skin or oral infections
REVIEW Facebook posts claiming that face masks promote bacterial and fungal overgrowth and lead to skin and oral infections (see examples here, here, and here) went viral in late September 2020. As we explain below, these claims are unsupported as s
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: COVID-19 Is NOT ‘The Most Highly Survivable Virus’
Is COVID-19 the most highly survivable virus? No, that's not true: Chickenpox and Epstein-Barr (mononucleosis) are widespread and rarely lethal. Effective vaccines make those and lethal viruses like rabies and smallpox almost 100% surviva
Truth or Fiction?→ Does a Potential U.S. Supreme Court Candidate Belong to a Group That Inspired ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’?
News of United States Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s death was barely a day old before national figures started to discuss her replacement, despite the opposition of those very same figures to doing so in 2016, after Antonin Scalia
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘During WWII, Lipstick Became a Sign of Patriotism’
The origin of one anti-fascist tactic circulated again on Facebook in August and September 2020, with some readers getting a new perspective on cosmetics and their impact. The post, which has been shared more than thousands of time times since its pub
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Journalist Sarah Jeong Did NOT Say ‘We Need A Castration Lottery For White Men’
Did Sarah Jeong say, "We need a castration lottery for white men"? No, that's not true: This is a fake quote attributed to Jeong, a former member the New York Times editorial board. Jeong made news when internet trolls, with whom she has
Full Fact→ Lots of people are getting confused over testing figures
“We’re now doing about 240,000 antigen tests a day, at the moment… 240,000 is the latest figures… This is the capacity in the system.” Nadhim Zahawi MP, 17 September 2020 “The government’s own figures, the
Full Fact→ Lots of people are getting confused over testing figures
“We’re now doing about 240,000 antigen tests a day, at the moment… 240,000 is the latest figures… This is the capacity in the system.” Nadhim Zahawi MP, 17 September 2020 “The government’s own figures, the
Health Feedback→ Assessment of the evolution of the number of COVID-19 cases is based on SARS-CoV-2 specific test. No confusion with flu or common cold is possible.
REVIEW Claims circulated in early September 2020 stating that the common cold or flu can be mistaken for COVID-19, suggesting that current and future cases of COVID-19 should instead be attributed to common cold or flu. Posts making these claims pro
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: The Article Accusing China Of Loosing COVID From A Lab Is NOT Tested Science
Did a scientific study prove the Chinese government cooked up the novel coronavirus and loosed it on the world? No, that's not true: The claim is made in a self-published article produced by doctors who identify themselves as part of a po
FactCheck.org→ Trump Reprises Inaccurate COVID-19 Comparisons with Europe
In a series of recent appearances, President Donald Trump continued to wrongly insist that the U.S. compares favorably with Europe on both coronavirus cases and deaths. Trump falsely said that Europe’s COVID-19 outbreaks are “much worse” than tho
Full Fact→ Reopening universities will almost certainly not cause 50,000 deaths
“Without strong controls, the return to universities would cause a minimum of 50,000 deaths” University and College Union, 30 August 2020 The University and College Union (UCU), a trade union for academic staff, tweeted a quote from a pie
Truth or Fiction?→ Were 94 Percent of COVID-19 Deaths Caused by ‘Underlying Conditions’?
A false interpretation of new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spread online in late August 2020, buoyed by both social media and various local television news outlets. The result was a slew of posts and stories pushing t