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Coronavirus: The Infodemic - April 24


Health Feedback screenshot
Health Feedback screenshot

Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here​.

Daily Debunk

Claim: SARS-CoV-2 is a bioengineered virus released from a Wuhan research laboratory.

Verdict: False

Read the full story: "Viral video promotes the unsupported hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 is a bioengineered virus released from a Wuhan research laboratory," Health Feedback.​

Social Media Disinfo​

Facebook screenshot
Facebook screenshot

Circulating on social media: Illustrations claiming that wearing a face mask reduces COVID-19 risk by up to 98.5%.

Verdict: Partly False

Read the full story at: Reuters​

Factual Reads on Coronavirus

Pick of the coronavirus papers: Intensive testing finds a small town’s many silent infections
A large proportion of people with COVID-19 have no symptoms, according to research in a small Italian town.
-- Nature, April 23

Why the World Bank ex-chief is on a mission to end coronavirus transmission
Fearing an economic crisis of unprecedented proportions, Jim Yong Kim is rolling out a plan to halt the pandemic rather than weather it out.
-- Nature, April 22, 2020

A New Doctor Faces the Coronavirus in Queens
A front-line physician at Elmhurst Hospital sees how closely socioeconomic status is tied to the disease, and tries to help patients who are dying without their families.
-- The New Yorker, April 20

Coronavirus myths explored
As the coronavirus continues to make the news, a host of untruths has surrounded the topic. In this special feature, we address some of these myths and conspiracies.
-- Medical News Today, April 16

Vaccine Hesitancy and Pro-Kremlin Opportunism
Much has changed since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since late January 2020, the anti-vax trend in pro-Kremlin media is no longer limited to social media.
-- EUvsDisinfo, April 16

Coronavirus pandemic threatens to take crushing toll on rural areas, data show
Experts say the pandemic could accentuate the urban-rural divide in health measures, just as it has shined a light on other existing health disparities, killing disproportionate numbers of Black Americans, for example.
-- Stat, April 16

Criticized for Pandemic Response, Trump Tries Shifting Blame to the W.H.O.
The president said he would halt funding for the organization because it caused “so much death” in the way it “pushed Chinese misinformation,” though he himself effusively praised China’s handling of the virus.
-- New York Times, April 14​

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​

Thousands of coronavirus tests are going unused in US labs
US labs that underwent huge efforts to retool for COVID-19 testing still aren’t operating at full capacity. Experts say the lack of a national strategy is largely to blame.
-- Nature, 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

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

Mapping the COVID-19 outbreak

USAFACTS.org map displaying confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. by county
USAFACTS.org map displaying confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. by county

The Best Coronavirus Myth-Busting Collections

Agence France Presse

Snopes

BuzzFeed

Factcheck.org

Associated Press

Washington Post

TruthOrFiction

Reliable Coronavirus Information

World Health Organization

U.S. Centers for Disease Control

Federation of American Scientists

Emergency Physicians

Johns Hopkins University & Medicine​

Pan American Health Organization

Google COVID‑19 Information & Resources

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