REVIEW An article on a website named Swiss Policy Research, formerly Swiss Propaganda Research, claims to give readers the “Facts about [COVID-19], provided by experts in the field.” Published in March 2020 and updated as recently as August 2020
Search Results (583) for: excess
Full Fact→ Study doesn’t show that children are ‘silent super-spreaders’ of coronavirus
“Children are ‘silent super-spreaders’ of coronavirus, scientists warn.” The Daily Mirror, 20 August 2020 “Coronavirus carrier children ‘silent super-spreaders’ with high viral loads, study finds.” The D
Health Feedback→ Sweden’s COVID-19 mortality is higher than in most European countries; no evidence whether or how the absence of lockdown impacted this outcome
REVIEW An article published in Newsweek on 3 August 2020 reported on the evolution of the COVID-19 epidemic in Sweden. Based on information gathered from multiple databases, including John Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center and the World
AFP Fact Check→ There is no evidence that black garlic can prevent cancer, health experts say
Multiple posts shared repeatedly on Facebook and Twitter claim that black garlic, a type of aged garlic often used as an ingredient in Asian cuisine, has properties that can decrease the chances of developing cancer "sixfold". The claim is misleading;
Full Fact→ Changes to government Covid-19 death data won’t make a big difference to the overall death count
On 16 July, the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine published an article which warned that, under Public Health England’s (PHE) system of reporting deaths from coronavirus, a patient who tested positive for Covid-19 but was successfully treated in
Health Feedback→ Sexual transmission of SARS-CoV-2 currently unconfirmed as studies produce conflicting evidence of its presence in the reproductive system
REVIEW This claim is the headline of an article written on 18 July by Paula Froelich for the New York Post. The article reports the findings of a study conducted at China’s Shangqiu Municipal Hospital and published online in the journal JAMA N
Health Feedback→ Primary COVID-19 transmission is by close contact with infected people; nasopharyngeal swab-based testing provides the highest diagnostic accuracy
REVIEW Facebook posts published in July 2020, such as this meme, questioned the need for nasopharyngeal sample collection in which “they have to stick a Q-tip through your nose to the back of your head to swab a sample of COVID” when it would be
Full Fact→ Mirror claims NHS staff work 11 hours unpaid overtime on average but it’s probably more like two hours
“NHS Heroes forced to work for free. Poll reveals staff do an average 11 hrs extra a week unpaid… & that was before virus.” Daily Mirror front page, 20 July 2020 On Monday the Mirror’s front page claimed that the average
AFP Fact Check→ Misinformation recirculates online in Thailand about ‘cure’ for kidney stones
Multiple posts shared hundreds of times on Facebook and YouTube claim that drinking coconut water diluted with potassium aluminium sulphate, a chemical compound commonly used in water purification, can "dissolve kidney stones". The claim is misleading;
Full Fact→ Independent SAGE’s estimated death rate is too high
"What we are saying is 27,000 excess deaths are likely between now and next April if the expectation by the Chief Medical Officer [is] that he would be surprised and delighted if the UK is in the same place next spring." Sir David King, 5 July 2020 S
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Dr. Kelly Victory’s ‘COVID Facts’ Video Includes Many Claims That Are NOT Facts
Does a video by Dr. Kelly Victory that promises to discuss "COVID facts" deliver all factual claims? No, that's not true: Lead Stories identified at least 10 "facts" that are false, including claims that children are at "virtually no risk" fro
Truth or Fiction?→ The #FreeBritney Movement, Explained
In July 10 2020, a Facebook post appeared about the #FreeBritney movement (evidently aimed at liberating Britney Spears), becoming hugely popular within just a few days: The Text of the Post The post — which was lengthy and full of de
Health Feedback→ People have died from the coronavirus, contrary to article claiming to report pathologist’s “revelations” on COVID-19
Originally published by OffGuardian, this article makes numerous claims about the COVID-19 pandemic that have been republished in other outlets such as GlobalResearch.ca and Australian National Review, both of which have been described as conspiracy we
Truth or Fiction?→ Why Is the Coronavirus Test So Invasive? Would a Cheek Swab Work?
On July 7 2020, Facebook user David D Smith shared the following post, questioning why coronavirus testing was so invasive, particularly when compared to DNA test cheek swabs: Smith included a shiver-inducing image but no citations, writing:
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Dr. Rashid Buttar Video Does NOT Prove ‘Everyone Could Test Positive’ for Coronavirus And ‘Hardly Anybody’ Has Died From COVID-19
Is it true that "everyone could test positive" for the novel coronavirus that has ravaged the United States and world? And is it true that hardly anyone has died of the disease COVID-19 caused by the virus? No, neither is true. If you just loo
Full Fact→ Coronavirus cures: debunked
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, readers have been asking us whether alleged cures or treatments for the coronavirus are real or not. It’s important to note that, currently, there is no approved vaccine for Covid-19. In the UK only
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: ‘Covid911 – Insurgency’ Video Pushes Several Falsehoods And Unproven Conspiracy Theories
Is the COVID-19 pandemic a conspiracy manufactured by "Deep State Democrats" and the "mass media" to disrupt, even rig, the upcoming presidential election in a bid to topple Donald Trump? And did the coronavirus provide the perfect cover for t
Truth or Fiction?→ Did a Teenager Get Pleurisy From Wearing a Face Mask for Work?
On May 31 2020, Facebook user Lena Kovacs shared the following screenshot of a redacted post, in which a person claimed their neeninet-year-old daughter developed pleurisy solely due to her use of a face mask in her job at “a huge grocery store
Full Fact→ What do we know about Covid-19 inequalities among people from minority ethnic groups?
In the early stages of the coronavirus epidemic in the UK, and in the absence of data splitting out Covid-19 deaths by ethnicity, reports of health workers from minority ethnicities dying of Covid-19 was the first clue that some groups of people might
Health Feedback→ COVID-19 is among the leading causes of death worldwide so far in 2020, but beware of incomplete graphs
An animated bar graph circulating on social media went viral in June 2020 and received more than 100,000 interactions on Facebook. The graph claims to report the number of deaths that have occurred worldwide from several causes, including COVID-19, bet
Truth or Fiction?→ Did a Landlord Ask a Possible Tenant to Pay a Year’s Worth of Rent in Advance?
A property management company in Asheville, North Carolina became one of several symbols of landlord excess for social media users in June 2020, after a prospective tenant revealed that she was asked to provide a year’s worth rent before moving
Full Fact→ More people have probably been killed by coronavirus than were killed during the Blitz
An image that’s been shared over a thousand times on Facebook claims that the “official death toll” from the coronavirus pandemic in the UK now equals the death toll from the Blitz during the Second World War. The widely-shared image
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Meme Claiming Five Reasons Not To Wear A Face Mask Is Misleading
Did a meme provide five accurate reasons why people should not wear masks amid the novel coronavirus outbreak? No, several of the reasons were misleading. A viral post about why "I don't wear a mask" gives five reasons not to don a face coveri
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Fireworks Every Night’ in June 2020
On June 20 2020, the Facebook page “Son of Baldwin” shared what would later become a popular iteration of a “fireworks conspiracy” set of rumors, spreading from several points on Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit: The Facebook
FactCheck.org→ Trump Wrong on Obama-Biden Actions on Policing
In signing an executive order on policing issues, President Donald Trump falsely claimed former President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden “never even tried to fix this during their eight-year period.” In fact, the Obama administra
FactCheck.org→ Bogus Claims of ‘Crisis Actors’ in Death of George Floyd
Quick Take False claims that nearly everyone involved in George Floyd’s death — including Floyd — are “crisis actors” have spread widely online. But the pictures that supposedly prove this theory actually show unrelated pe
Health Feedback→ German Ministry employee makes unsupported claim that COVID-19 pandemic is a global false alarm in widely circulated yet unsolicited opinion article
REVIEW An article posted by News Punch on 2 June 2020 partially reproduces a document originally published by the German outlet Tichys Einblick on 10 May 2020, claiming that it was leaked from Germany’s Interior Ministry. The document, titled KM 4
FactCheck.org→ Does Vitamin D Protect Against COVID-19?
Q: Does vitamin D help protect against COVID-19? A: Some scientists have hypothesized vitamin D might be helpful, but there is no direct evidence that vitamin D can prevent COVID-19 or lessen disease severity. Nevertheless, it should be part of a healt
Snopes→ Democrats Unveil Police Overhaul Package, Kneel at Capitol
The Justice in Policing Act would limit legal protections for police, create a national database of excessive-force incidents and ban police choke holds, among other changes, according to an early draft.
Full Fact→ The limits of what we can say about early lockdowns
“Locking down in the early stages of the spread of the virus is linked to a reduced excess death toll.” Financial Times, 28 May 2020 The Financial Times (FT) recently published a new analysis comparing the death rates in countries aff
Full Fact→ The limits of what we can say about early lockdowns
“Locking down in the early stages of the spread of the virus is linked to a reduced excess death toll.” Financial Times, 28 May 2020 The Financial Times (FT) recently published a new analysis comparing the death rates in countries aff
FactCheck.org→ The Semantics of ‘Tear Gas’ Versus ‘Pepper Spray’
Democratic politicians have criticized President Donald Trump for the use of “tear gas” to disperse protesters near the White House on June 1 before Trump walked to St. John’s Episcopal Church to pose for photos with a Bible. The pres
FactCheck.org→ Examining Biden’s Farm Bankruptcy Claim
Joe Biden claimed that farm bankruptcies increased last year “due largely to Trump’s unmitigated disaster of a tariff war.” International trade was a factor, but there were additional reasons that predate the trade war — such as
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Colorado Revise its COVID-19 Death Count from 1150 to 878 — and ‘Admit’ They Were Counting Deaths from Other Causes?
A May 16 2020 Facebook post claiming that Colorado had revised its COVID-19 death count from 1150 to 878 and “ADMITTED” that the state was including deaths from other causes in its count to make the virus seem more lethal took off across
Health Feedback→ The main cause of death in COVID-19 patients is respiratory insufficiency arising from viral pneumonia, not clotting disorder as claimed in viral social media posts
REVIEW The claim that autopsies in Italy prove that COVID-19 is not pneumonia but disseminated intravascular coagulation began circulating from mid-April 2020 onwards on various platforms such as Whatsapp, YouTube and Facebook in several languages s
Health Feedback→ Mortality in the U.S. noticeably increased during the first months of 2020 compared to previous years
SUMMARY A post shared on Facebook on 13 May 2020 compared the number of deaths in the U.S. during the first 17 weeks of 2019 (30 December 2018 to 27 April 2019) to those during the same period in 2020 (29 December 2019 to 25 April 2020)@. The post sta
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: BLM Did NOT Release A Plan To Annihilate America’s Wild Horse And Burro Herds
Did the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) release a plan to annihilate America's wild horse and burro herds? No, that's not true: The plan calls for management of the wild horse and burro population over the coming 15 years through "population g
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Woodstock Occur ‘in the Middle of a Pandemic’?
On May 1 2020, the American Institute for Economic Research reported that Woodstock was held during a pandemic — information which, in a vacuum, could pass for a charming piece of late 1960s nostalgia. But this information does not exist in a
FactCheck.org→ The Falsehoods of the ‘Plandemic’ Video
The first installment of a documentary called “Plandemic” stormed through social media this week, promising viewers on its website that the film will “expose the scientific and political elite who run the scam that is our global healt
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: There Is NO Evidence Cream Of Tartar Mixed With Orange Juice Can Help You Stop Smoking
Does mixing cream of tartar with orange juice and drinking the concoction help you stop smoking? No, that's not true: A claim has gone viral that suggests the simple concoction of cream of tartar and orange juice can help a person stop smoking