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Coronavirus: The Infodemic - March 25


A member of Joint Task Force 2, composed of soldiers and airmen from the New York Army and Air National Guard arrives to sanitize and disinfect the Young Israel of New Rochelle synagogue.
A member of Joint Task Force 2, composed of soldiers and airmen from the New York Army and Air National Guard arrives to sanitize and disinfect the Young Israel of New Rochelle synagogue.


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

Daily Debunk

Rumors have spread across social media that U.S. authorities are planning to impose martial law in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Verdict: False

Read the full story at: Associated Press News

Social Media Disinfo​

Screenshot
Screenshot

Circulating on social media: A video accompanied by a false claim that it shows a U.S. soldier spreading COVID-19 by wiping his saliva on a subway train handrail in the Chinese city of Wuhan in October 2019.

Verdict: False

Read the full story: "Video shows US soldier wiping saliva on train in Wuhan?" -- Agence France-Presse Fact Check​

Factual Reads on Coronavirus

Mapping the COVID-19 outbreak

A USAFACTS.org Map shows confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. by county.
A USAFACTS.org Map shows confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. by county.

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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