Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here.
Daily Debunk
Claim: Citing “studies,” President Donald Trump has suggested that there are few novel coronavirus cases in “malaria countries” because of the use of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine.
Verdict: False
Read the full story: "Trump’s Faulty Malaria-Coronavirus Connection," FactCheck.org, April 9
Social Media Disinfo
Circulating on social media: Images supposedly showing mass graves being dug in New York to bury those who died during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Verdict: Mostly True
Read the full story: "Are ‘Mass Graves’ Being Dug for COVID-19 Deaths?" -- Snopes
Factual Reads on Coronavirus
How Do We Exit The Shutdown? Hire An Army Of Public Health Workers
[T]here’s broad agreement that core public health work — the ability to find people with the virus and prevent them from passing it to others — will be essential to reopening schools and businesses.
-- Kaiser Health News, April 13
The Viral ‘Study’ About Runners Spreading Coronavirus Is Not Actually a Study
Belgian researchers chose to bypass all standard science publishing protocols to publish research that has been overhyped and isn't well understood.
-- Vice, April 9
Dr. Fauci Says He Doesn't Think Americans Should Ever Shake Hands Again to Prevent Spread of Coronavirus
The leading infectious disease expert on President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force told the Wall Street Journal that an end to handshaking would be good for reducing future transmissions of the novel coronavirus and would also cut the number of influenza cases.
-- Newsweek, April 8
A small trial finds that hydroxychloroquine is not effective for treating coronavirus
[A] study just published in a French medical journal provides new evidence that hydroxychloroquine does not appear to help the immune system clear the coronavirus from the body.
-- The Conversation, April 3
An antibody test for the novel coronavirus will soon be available
In the short term, this will be important because it will permit the authorities to identify who may return to their jobs without risk of infecting others.
– The Economist, April 2
The Race to Build COVID-19 Ventilators
The world needs more ventilators – but scaling up production is more complex than it seems.
-- BBC, April 1
Chinese State Media Seeks to Influence International Perceptions of COVID-19 Pandemic
We assess that the effort we see today to cast doubt on the origin of COVID-19 and shift the blame away from China began in mid-February with the transition away from the use of Wuhan-specific hashtags in COVID-19 posts.
-- Recorded Future, March 30
Estimates of the severity of coronavirus disease 2019: a model-based analysis
Our estimated overall infection fatality ratio for China was 0·66% (0·39–1·33), with an increasing profile with age.
-- The Lancet, March 30
How COVID-19 Drug Hunters Spot Virus-Fighting Compounds
A big project looks at “doorways” the coronavirus uses to get into cells—and finds drugs that could block them.
-- Scientific American, March 20
Mapping the COVID-19 outbreak
The Best Coronavirus Myth-Busting Collections
Reliable Coronavirus Information
U.S. Centers for Disease Control
Federation of American Scientists
Johns Hopkins University & Medicine
