Daily Debunk
Claim: "A negative COVID-19 test will 'clear' people to go to holiday gatherings with their family and friends across the United States."
With many Americans traveling around the holiday season, some have come to believe it is safe to gather with others if they have received a negative COVID-19 test result. However, a negative COVID-19 result means there is a chance, but not a guarantee, a person will stay negative by the time of any gathering.
Verdict: Mostly False
Read the full story at: Snopes
Social Media Disinfo
Circulating on social media: A Facebook post by an internet personality implies that coronavirus vaccines are primarily designed to improve the survival rates of those already infected, rather than reduce the risk of infection.
Verdict: False
Read the full story at: Lead Stories
Factual Reads on Coronavirus
A pandemic atlas: How COVID-19 took over the world in 2020
Journalists from The Associated Press around the world assessed how the countries where they are posted have weathered the pandemic — and where those countries stand on the cusp of year two of the contagion.
-- AP, December 25
What We Know About the New U.K Variant of Coronavirus -- And What We Need To Find Out
A new variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in England and raising international alarms. Scientists say the variant is likely more contagious than previous versions of the virus.
-- NPR, December 22
How gendered disinformation adapts to the context of Covid-19
-- European Federation of Journalists, December 21
EXPLAINER: Are new coronavirus strains cause for concern?
-- The Associated Press, December 20
COVID vaccine race leaders likely won’t be only ones to reap huge payday
Therapeutics and law expert lays out the economics of this drug development.
-- The Harvard Gazette, December 17
Misting the White House between administrations won’t kill Covid-19 — and it could be harmful, experts say
[P]rominent expert organizations are clear: misting or fogging disinfectants is not a good way to fight Covid-19.
-- Stat, December 16
Behind Each of More Than 300,000 Lives Lost: A Name, a Caregiver, a Family, a Story
More than 300,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States.
-- Kaiser Health News, December 15
The coronavirus at 1: A year into the pandemic, what scientists know about how it spreads, infects, and sickens
The coronavirus behind the pandemic presents some vexing dualities.
-- Stat, December 14
The US is about to begin the first big test of Covid-19 vaccine distribution
What we can learn from the initial phase of vaccinating health care workers in the US.
-- Vox, December 10
Despite promise, few in US adopting COVID-19 exposure apps
Fewer than half of U.S. states and territories — 18 in total — have made such technology widely available. And according to a data analysis by The Associated Press, the vast majority of Americans in such locations haven’t activated the tool.
-- Associated Press, December 6
Federal hospital data system falters at tracking pandemic
A Science examination ... found the HHS data for three important values in Wisconsin hospitals—beds filled, intensive care unit (ICU) beds filled, and in-patients with COVID-19—often diverge dramatically from those collected by the other federal source, from state-supplied data, and from the apparent reality on the ground.
-- Science, December 4
Inside China’s response to COVID
Researchers and officials reveal how the pandemic has shifted the country’s scientific landscape and global reputation.
-- Nature, December 2
The Covid-19 vaccines are a marvel of science. Here’s how we can make the best use of them
It appears science may have found the Covid-19 pandemic’s off-ramp.
-- Stat, December 2
The Best Coronavirus Myth-Busting Collections
COVID19 Infodemics Observatory
Reliable Coronavirus Information
U.S. Centers for Disease Control
Federation of American Scientists
Johns Hopkins University & Medicine