Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here.
Daily Debunk
Claim: COVID-19 is only dangerous for older people.
Verdict: False
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data showing 47% of all COVID-19 hospitalizations were for those aged 20 to 54.
Read the full story at: Poynter.org
Social Media Disinfo
Circulating on social media:
The US constructed the virus; the Pentagon did it; the ruling elites… On the one hand, pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets claim that the outbreak is a hoax. On the other, they indulge apocalyptic scenarios, suggesting that due to the pandemic the Schengen system has collapsed, NATO will dissolve, the EU is paralyzed, the Baltic states are doomed, there are no doctors in Lithuania, and Ukraine is in free fall. The entire project of “globalization” is over! The coronavirus is the EU’s Chernobyl. But then the whiplash comes again: The virus is not dangerous at all. It can be cured with saline in four days, what’s the problem?
Verdict: False
Read the full story: Disinformation Can Kill -- EU vs DiSiNFO
Factual Reads on Coronavirus
UK has enough intensive care units for coronavirus, expert predicts
UK deaths from the disease are now unlikely to exceed 20,000, [Imperial College London epidemiologist Neil Ferguson] said, and could be much lower.
-- NewScientist (UK), March 25
Hispanics more likely than Americans overall to see coronavirus as a major threat to health and finances
The spread of the coronavirus has the potential to hit many of the nation’s nearly 60 million Latinos particularly hard.
-- Pew Research Center, March 24
Mapping the COVID-19 outbreak
Does Everyone Over 60 Need to Take the Same Coronavirus Precautions?
Are precautions of the sort the CDC has endorsed really necessary, even in areas where the new coronavirus doesn’t yet appear to be circulating widely? What about disease-free adults in their 60s and 70s?
-- Kaiser Health News, March 24
Can’t Get Tested? Maybe You’re in the Wrong Country.
Scientists say the chasm between the testing haves and have-nots reflects politics, public health strategies and, in some cases, blunders.
-- New York Times, March 20
Coronavirus Death Rate in Wuhan Lower Than Initial Estimates, New Study Finds.
"The study, published Thursday in the journal Nature Medicine, found that the death rate among people who had symptoms was 1.4% in Wuhan, China, as of Feb. 29. That rate is lower than previous estimates of mortality rates for Covid-19, the disease caused by the new virus, in Wuhan and China overall."
-- Wall Street Journal, March 19
The Best Coronavirus Myth-Busting Collections
Reliable Coronavirus Information
U.S. Centers for Disease Control
Federation of American Scientists
Johns Hopkins University & Medicine
