Daily Debunk
Claim: Filters can “eat any form of virus including coronavirus” on aeroplanes.
Verdict: Misleading
Read the full story at: Africa Check
Social Media Disinfo
Circulating on social media: Photo of a World Health Organization (WHO) guidance on a Fox News segment saying that "masks should only be used by healthcare workers, caretakers or by people who are sick with symptoms like fever and cough."
Verdict: Misleading
Read the full story at: Reuters
Factual Reads on Coronavirus
Long-Haulers Are Redefining COVID-19
Without understanding the lingering illness that some patients experience, we can’t understand the pandemic.
-- The Atlantic, August 19
Evidence lags behind excitement over blood plasma as a coronavirus treatment
Although there have been few data on whether convalescent plasma definitely improves outcomes for people with other diseases, it was logical to test the treatment against COVID-19 when the outbreak began. But researchers have struggled to nail down its effectiveness in the middle of the pandemic, says Michael Joyner, an anaesthesiologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
-- Nature, August 19
The ever-expanding list of COVID-19 symptoms
We last wrote about COVID-19 symptoms at the end of April. Since then, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has added several new symptoms of possible infection: congestion, runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea.
-- MITMedical, August 11
Winter is coming: Why America’s window of opportunity to beat back Covid-19 is closing
Unless Americans use the dwindling weeks between now and the onset of “indoor weather” to tamp down transmission in the country, this winter could be Dickensianly bleak, public health experts warn.
-- Stat, August 10
America’s Obesity Epidemic Threatens Effectiveness of Any COVID Vaccine
Scientists know that vaccines engineered to protect the public from influenza, hepatitis B, tetanus and rabies can be less effective in obese adults than in the general population, leaving them more vulnerable to infection and illness. There is little reason to believe, obesity researchers say, that COVID-19 vaccines will be any different.
-- Kaiser Health News, August 6
How the pandemic might play out in 2021 and beyond
This coronavirus is here for the long haul — here’s what scientists predict for the next months and years.
-- Nature, August 5
Could My Symptoms Be Covid-19?
These days, every cough, sneeze or headache makes you wonder: Could it be Covid-19?
-- New York Times, August 5
Nine Important Things We’ve Learned about the Coronavirus Pandemic So Far
Some early public health messages about COVID-19 have been overturned
-- Scientific American, August 4
Watch: Antibodies, immunity, and what they mean for Covid-19, explained
The immune system is no wimp. When pathogens cause illness, it kicks into high gear. Cells work together to tag, kill and gobble up invaders as they fight the infection.
-- Stat, May 5
The race for coronavirus vaccines: a graphical guide
Eight ways in which scientists hope to provide immunity to SARS-CoV-2.
-- Nature, April 28
The Best Coronavirus Myth-Busting Collections
COVID19 Infodemics Observatory
Mapping the COVID-19
Reliable Coronavirus Information
U.S. Centers for Disease Control
Federation of American Scientists
Johns Hopkins University & Medicine