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Coronavirus: The Infodemic - October 28


A police officer wearing a face mask monitors pedestrian traffic along a street in Shanghai on October 28, 2020. (Photo by Hector Retamal / AFP)
A police officer wearing a face mask monitors pedestrian traffic along a street in Shanghai on October 28, 2020. (Photo by Hector Retamal / AFP)

Daily Debunk

Claim: "Posts based on a video by a German neurologist have been shared thousands of times on Facebook making several claims about the alleged dangers of wearing face masks, notably that rebreathing oxygen in the mask leads to neurological damage. According to experts, this is false, since these masks allow fresh air to pass through and oxygen to be inhaled." -- AFP Fact Check

Verdict: False

Read the full story at: AFP Fact Check

Social Media Disinfo

Football star Tom Brady. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Football star Tom Brady. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Circulating on social media: "Super Bowl champion Tom Brady told his Instagram followers that suicide accounts for more death than COVID-19." -- Politifact

Verdict: False

Read the full story at: Politifact

Factual Reads on Coronavirus

Health Experts' Thanksgiving Advice In The Time of COVID-19
While Thanksgiving is still weeks away, people hoping to connect with distant family members are already making anxious plans — and if they aren’t, they should be, public health experts say.
-- STAT News, October 16

Confronting Misinformation
How to protect society from fear, lies and division.
-- Scientific American, November 1, 2020

Improving pandemic preparedness: Lessons from COVID-19
The United States and the world were caught unprepared by the COVID-19 pandemic despite decades of warnings of the threat of global pandemics and years of international planning.
-- Council on Foreign Relations, October 2020

The coronavirus test results that predict an outbreak's course
Viral levels in people infected with SARS-CoV-2 in a specific town or city could be used to assess whether the epidemic there has passed its peak.
-- Nature, October 19

Coronavirus can last 28 days on glass and currency, study finds
Findings from the study by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, appear to show that in a very controlled environment the virus remained infectious for longer than other studies have found.
-- Reuters, October 11

Eight Persistent COVID-19 Myths and Why People Believe Them
From a human-made virus to vaccine conspiracy theories, we rounded up the most insidious false claims about the pandemic
-- Scientific American, October 12

5 Things to Know About a COVID Vaccine: It Won’t Be a ‘Magic Wand’
President Donald Trump makes no secret he would like a COVID-19 vaccine to be available before the election. But it’s doubtful that will happen.
-- Kaiser Health News, October 5

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

Agence France Presse

Snopes

BuzzFeed

Factcheck.org

Associated Press

Washington Post

TruthOrFiction

Mapping COVID-19 Casualties

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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