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
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
Reliable Coronavirus Information
U.S. Centers for Disease Control
Federation of American Scientists
Johns Hopkins University & Medicine