Claim reviews
Masks offer only partial protection from the virus that causes COVID-19, but their effectiveness can be enhanced with other measures like physical distancing
CLAIM
“Either masks work or they don’t”; “I don’t understand the safety concern with voting in person. Your mask works, right?”
SOURCE: Facebook users, Facebook
Published: 04 Sep 2020
VERDICT
A person’s response to vaccination is not associated with birthmarks or the presence of mutations in a gene involved with vitamin B9 production
CLAIM
Birthmarks are indicators of the MTHFR gene; “When people have MTHFR their chances of vaccine reactions increase because they cannot detox the toxins from the vaccines”
SOURCE: Facebook users, Facebook
Published: 03 Sep 2020
VERDICT
False claim shared by President Trump that only 6% of CDC-reported deaths are from COVID-19 is based on flawed reasoning
CLAIM
only 6% of all the 153,504 deaths recorded actually died from Covid, the rest had other serious illnesses
SOURCE: Facebook users, Facebook
Published: 31 Aug 2020
VERDICT
Human DNA does not produce a positive result on the RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2
CLAIM
“WHO coronavirus PCR test primer sequence is found in all human DNA”; “this means that the WHO test kits should find a positive result in all humans”
SOURCE: Anonymous, Piece of Mindful
Published: 31 Aug 2020
VERDICT
A vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 would be useful even if the survival rate from COVID-19 is high
CLAIM
With the survival rate of COVID-19 close to 100% without a vaccine, what exactly will the purpose of the new vaccine be?
SOURCE: Facebook User, Facebook
Published: 28 Aug 2020
VERDICT
People infected with SARS-CoV-2 can transmit the virus to others, even if they do not show symptoms of the disease and are not considered sick
CLAIM
“The greatest trick the CDC ever pulled was convincing the world you can be sick without having symptoms”
SOURCE: Facebook users, Facebook
Published: 27 Aug 2020
VERDICT
Altered image falsely suggests that restaurant staff in Maine are required to wear dog cone-style face visors to protect against COVID-19
CLAIM
“Governor of Maine orders restaurant staff to wear COVID visors like dog cones”
SOURCE: Sherri Tenpenny, Paul Joseph Watson, Twitter, Summit News
Published: 27 Aug 2020
VERDICT
Listicle of “facts” about COVID-19 contains numerous inaccurate and misleading claims
CLAIM
“The overall lethality of [COVID-19] (IFR) is about 0.1% to 0.3% and thus in the range of a severe influenza”
SOURCE: Anonymous, Swiss Policy Research
Published: 26 Aug 2020
VERDICT
Current COVID-19 mortality rate does not predict the future probability of dying from the disease
CLAIM
“Chance of NOT dying from Covid-19: 99.96%”
SOURCE: Facebook User, Facebook
Published: 21 Aug 2020
VERDICT
Flawed “study” incorrectly claims that countries adopting hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19 experienced reduced mortality rates
CLAIM
Large country-randomized controlled trial in 2.7 billion people shows 79.1% lower death rate in COVID-19 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine
SOURCE: Anonymous, CovidAnalysis
Published: 17 Aug 2020
VERDICT