Daily Debunk
Claim: Insurance companies deny life insurance payouts after people received COVID-19 vaccine.
Verdict: False
Read the full story at: USA Today
Social Media Disinfo
Circulating on social media: Claim that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine contains a Bluetooth microchip.
Verdict: False
Read the full story at: PolitiFact
Factual Reads on Coronavirus
New report of illnesses at Wuhan lab raises questions about origins of COVID-19
Three researchers from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough in November 2019 that they sought hospital care, according to a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report that could add weight to growing calls for a fuller probe of whether the COVID-19 virus may have escaped from the laboratory.
-- Wall Street Journal (via MarketWatch), May 23
Why is the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccine campaign faltering?
India’s COVID-19 surge has become a tsunami, with hospitals overwhelmed and funeral pyres burning throughout the nights. Yet the country’s vaccination campaign is languishing, with less than 3% of Indians fully vaccinated as of 16 May.
-- Science, May 19
How the Covid pandemic ends: Scientists look to the past to see the future
At this point, it’s fair to assume people the world over are asking themselves the same two questions: How will this end? And when?
--Stat, May 19
Cleaning indoor air may prevent COVID-19’s spread. But it’s harder than it looks
Ventilation, filtration and few other tricks help, but no solution works for all.
-- ScienceNews, May 18
Investigate the origins of COVID-19
As scientists with relevant expertise, we agree with the WHO director-general, the United States and 13 other countries, and the European Union that greater clarity about the origins of this pandemic is necessary and feasible to achieve.
-- Science, May 14
Top scientists question the need for COVID-19 booster shots
COVID-19 vaccine developers are making ever bolder assertions that the world will need yearly booster shots, or new vaccines to tackle concerning coronavirus variants, but some scientists question when, or whether, such shots will be needed.
-- Reuters, May 13
A Misleading C.D.C. Number
When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines last month for mask wearing, it announced that “less than 10 percent” of Covid-19 transmission was occurring outdoors. ... [T]he number is almost certainly misleading.
-- New York Times, May 11
How India’s COVID-19 crisis became the worst in the world
New variants and relaxed public health measures likely fueled the country’s surge.
-- ScienceNews, May 9
The origin of COVID: Did people or nature open Pandora’s box at Wuhan?
Neither the natural emergence nor the lab escape hypothesis can yet be ruled out. There is still no direct evidence for either. So no definitive conclusion can be reached. That said, the available evidence leans more strongly in one direction than the other.
-- Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 5
US sees COVID-19 cases decline, travel increase
COVID-19 is on the retreat, as the United States reports a significant reduction in daily cases—a signal that the country's largest vaccination push in decades is beginning to beat back the virus.
-- CIDRAP, May 3
The Best Coronavirus Myth-Busting Collections
COVID19 Infodemics Observatory
Reliable Coronavirus Information
U.S. Centers for Disease Control
Federation of American Scientists
Johns Hopkins University & Medicine
