Claim reviews
Blog posts inaccurately claim that a 2005 NIH study demonstrated the effectiveness of chloroquine treatment against coronavirus infection such as COVID-19
CLAIM
the NIH researched chloroquine and concluded that it was effective at stopping the SARS coronavirus in its tracks
SOURCE: Bryan Fischer, OneNewsNow
Published: 08 May 2020
VERDICT
Bakersfield physicians underestimate COVID-19 mortality using flawed statistics; wrongly claim sheltering in place causes weak immune system
CLAIM
You have a 0.03[%] chance of dying from [COVID-19] in the state of California. [...] it’s similar to the flu.
SOURCE: Daniel Erickson, Artin Massihi, Youtube, Facebook
Published: 04 May 2020
VERDICT
Claim that hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin improves COVID-19 recovery is unsupported at this stage
CLAIM
By administering hydroxychloroquine combined with azithromycin, they were able to observe an improvement in all cases, except in one patient
SOURCE: Anonymous, Tech Startups
Published: 01 May 2020
VERDICT
Little to no evidence that smoking protects against COVID-19; may increase risk of complications instead
CLAIM
smoking may protect against COVID-19
SOURCE: Christopher Snowdon, Spiked
Published: 29 Apr 2020
VERDICT
The number of flu cases and deaths in 2020 is comparable to previous years
CLAIM
there are ZERO flu deaths and ZERO pneumonia deaths for the first time in history
SOURCE: Facebook users, Facebook
Published: 28 Apr 2020
VERDICT
Volunteer for U.K. COVID-19 vaccine trial Elisa Granato is alive, contrary to claim in viral article
CLAIM
Elisa Granato, the first volunteer who availed herself in Oxford for a jab in the first Europe human trial of a vaccine to protect against the coronavirus pandemic has died.
SOURCE: James Alami, News NT
Published: 27 Apr 2020
VERDICT
Eating alkaline food cannot prevent or cure COVID-19
CLAIM
The pH for the coronavirus varies from 5.5 to 8.5. What we need to do to defeat the coronavirus is to consume more alkaline foods above the virus’ pH level.
SOURCE: Facebook users, Facebook
Published: 22 Apr 2020
VERDICT
Nobel laureate Luc Montagnier inaccurately claims that the novel coronavirus is man-made and contains genetic material from HIV
CLAIM
this coronavirus genome contained sequences of another virus […] the HIV virus (AIDS virus)
SOURCE: Luc Montagnier, Gilmore Health News, Zero Hedge
Published: 20 Apr 2020
VERDICT
Claim that SARS-CoV-2 binds to hemoglobin in red blood cells unsupported and implausible
CLAIM
COVID-19 causes prolonged and progressive hypoxia (starving your body of oxygen) by binding to the heme groups in hemoglobin in your red blood cells
SOURCE: Andrew Gaiziunas, Medium
Published: 15 Apr 2020
VERDICT
Some evidence suggests that vitamin C and D supplementation might prevent or treat respiratory infections, but their effectiveness is still being tested with COVID-19
CLAIM
Vitamins C and D are now finally being adopted in the conventional treatment of SARS-CoV-2; Vitamin C at extremely high doses acts as an antiviral drug, actually killing viruses; vitamin D helps the body fight SARS-CoV-2 infection and can cut infection risk.
SOURCE: Joseph Mercola, Mercola
Published: 14 Apr 2020
VERDICT
