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Coronavirus: The Infodemic - March 24


A boy wears a face mask as a preventive measure against the spred of the COVID-19 coronavirus as he queues outside Makro in Soweto, Johannesburg, on March 24, 2020.
A boy wears a face mask as a preventive measure against the spred of the COVID-19 coronavirus as he queues outside Makro in Soweto, Johannesburg, on March 24, 2020.


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

Daily Debunk

Chain message: "[S]pecial military helicopters will spray pesticide against the Corona virus in the skies all over the country."

Verdict: False

See more dubious chain messages at Politifact.​

Social Media Disinfo​

Coronavirus Scam Test Warning on Facebook
Coronavirus Scam Test Warning on Facebook

Claim circulating on social media: Scammers pretending to be from the Red Cross are going door-to-door and offering coronavirus tests and then charging the residents money or even robbing them.

Verdict: Partly False

Read the full story: "Partly false claim: People are offering scam door-to-door coronavirus tests to rob people" -- Reuters​

Factual Reads on Coronavirus

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

Severe Outcomes Among Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) — United States, February 12–March 16, 2020
This first preliminary description of outcomes among patients with COVID-19 in the United States indicates that fatality was highest in persons aged ≥85, ranging from 10% to 27%, followed by 3% to 11% among persons aged 65–84 years, 1% to 3% among persons aged 55-64 years, <1% among persons aged 20–54 years, and no fatalities among persons aged ≤19 years.
-- CDC, March 18

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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