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Coronavirus: The Infodemic - May 31


 A new recruit of Russia's Baltic Fleet receives a dose of the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 at a recruiting station in Kaliningrad, Russia on May 27, 2021.
A new recruit of Russia's Baltic Fleet receives a dose of the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 at a recruiting station in Kaliningrad, Russia on May 27, 2021.

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

Daily Debunk

Claim: “Caught Red-Handed: CDC Changes Test Thresholds To Virtually Eliminate New COVID Cases Among Vaxx’d.”

Verdict: Misleading

Read the full story at: FactCheck.org

Social Media Disinfo

Screen capture of viral social media post.
Screen capture of viral social media post.

Circulating on social media: Claim that Nobel Prize winning virologist Luc Montagnier said there is "no chance of survival" for recipients of the Covid-19 vaccine, which was shared over 1,000 times

Verdict: False

Read the full story at: USA Today

Factual Reads on Coronavirus

As Covid dissipates in the U.S., cold and flu viruses may return with a vengeance
Some experts fear we’re in for a nasty cold-and-flu season or two, pointing to a combination of factors that could make for a rough re-entry to the mixed microbes world.
-- Stat, May 27

Good news: Mild COVID-19 induces lasting antibody protection
People who have had mild illness develop antibody-producing cells that can last lifetime.
-- Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, May 24

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

The Best Coronavirus Myth-Busting Collections

HealthCheck

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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