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Articles tagged with: Coronavirus
ARTICLE REVIEWS
New York Post article makes speculative, unsupported claim that mutation could enable the virus causing COVID-19 to evade handwashing and mask-wearing
in New York Post, by Jackie Salo
— 08 Oct 2020
"The preprint that the article focuses on actually says nothing about the most egregious claim made in the article: that the virus is evolving to get around hand-washing, masks, et..
Telegraph article describing the hypothesis that face masks can variolate a population receives mixed reviews on its scientific accuracy
in The Telegraph, by Georgina Hayes
— 24 Sep 2020
"The Telegraph headline is obviously misleading but the subheading is accurate. Masks don’t give immunity; rather, the argument is that infections are milder or asymptomatic and ..
Potential role for T cells in COVID-19 immunity accurately reported in National Geographic article
in National Geographic, by Carrie Arnold
— 19 Aug 2020
"The article accurately discusses the recent findings about the presence/relevance of T cell response against COVID-19. Indeed, both arms of adaptive immunity, humoral and cellular..
People who do not show symptoms can contribute to significant COVID-19 transmission, contrary to CNBC report
in CNBC, by William Feuer, Noah Higgins-Dunn
— 10 Jun 2020
there is already “abundant data” showing that people who are not showing symptoms—which could include asymptomatic, presymptomatic, and paucisymptomatic individuals—compris...
COVID-19 vaccine candidate by Pittsburgh scientists show promising results in animal studies, but clinical trials still needed before efficacy in humans is known
in Pittsburgh Magazine, by Garret Roberts
— 11 Apr 2020
Scientists who reviewed this article’s scientific credibility found that the reporting was generally accurate. However, they also highlighted a missed opportunity to provide read...
CLAIM REVIEWS
No evidence that COVID-19 vaccines cause more severe disease; antibody-dependent enhancement has not been observed in clinical trials
CLAIM
COVID-19 vaccines will cause more severe disease through antibody-dependent enhancement
SOURCE: Facebook users, Facebook
Published: 27 Nov 2020
VERDICT
Danish face mask study did not show that masks were ineffective at reducing spread of COVID-19; study was underpowered and results were inconclusive
CLAIM
“Masks make no significant difference”; “Masks have no significant effect”
SOURCE: Sharyl Attkisson, Alex Berenson, Buck Sexton, Anthony Sabatini, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
Published: 20 Nov 2020
VERDICT
Non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as lockdowns and wearing face masks, are effective measures to reduce COVID-19 transmission, contrary to claims in viral video
CLAIM
Lockdowns and face masks do not work to control the COVID-19 pandemic
SOURCE: Tom Woods, Young Americans for Liberty
Published: 19 Nov 2020
VERDICT
Article claiming that “masks don’t work” misleads readers by inaccurately interpreting a withdrawn study and a published study conducted on U.S. Marine Corps recruits
CLAIM
“Pro-mask study withdrawn after virus spread in counties analyzed by researchers”; “masks don’t work”
SOURCE: Daniel Horowitz, The Blaze
Published: 18 Nov 2020
VERDICT
Although fetal-derived cells are used to grow viruses for some COVID-19 vaccines, the cells are not part of the vaccines
CLAIM
“CONFIRMED - aborted male fetus in [COVID-19] vaccine”
SOURCE: Anonymous, Facebook
Published: 16 Nov 2020
VERDICT
The U.S. sees record numbers of daily new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in November 2020
CLAIM
“There were 144,305 newly reported COVID-19 cases in the United States today. This beats the previous record of 133,819 cases reported on Monday, November 9. This is the 8th day in a row with over 100,000 cases reported.”
SOURCE: Ali Velshi, Twitter, NBC News
Published: 13 Nov 2020
VERDICT
Claim that high PCR test sensitivity inflates COVID-19 cases wrongly conflates the issue of contagiousness with the presence of infection
CLAIM
“Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared to acknowledge that large numbers of positive COVID-19 cases may arise from oversensitive tests that pick up mere fragments of the virus rather than active, viable infections. If true, many patients may have been receiving false-positive test results”
SOURCE: Daniel Payne, Just the News
Published: 12 Nov 2020
VERDICT
Wearing face masks helps reduce the spread of COVID-19, but it only confers partial protection and should be combined with additional public health measures
CLAIM
“Mask mandates do nothing to stop [the spread of] COVID[-19]”; There is “overwhelming scientific evidence” that masks do not work
SOURCE: Yinon Weiss, The Federalist
Published: 11 Nov 2020
VERDICT
A rise in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths starting in September 2020 contradicts the claim by Michael Yeadon that “the pandemic is fundamentally over in the U.K.”
CLAIM
“the pandemic is fundamentally over in the U.K.”; “We now know that loads of people had prior immunity [...] I believe we are now firmly at community immunity.”; “Viruses don’t do waves.”
SOURCE: Julia Hartley-Brewer, Michael Yeadon, talkRADIO
Published: 10 Nov 2020
VERDICT
There is no evidence supporting the claim that preexisting T cell immunity reduces COVID-19 mortality and infection rate; such cross-reactive T cells predate the pandemic
CLAIM
“the reason why the death rate is so low is because our body has another way to create immunity that goes beyond just the antibodies, it’s called the memory T cells”
SOURCE: Eric Berg, YouTube
Published: 06 Nov 2020
VERDICT
INSIGHTS
“Plandemic: Indoctornation” video rehashes debunked claims and conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines
— 20 Aug 2020
Plandemic is a pseudo-documentary produced by American filmmaker Mikki Willis, whose first instalment was published in May 2020. Featuring an interview with anti-vaccination activi...
Computing Forever interview with Dolores Cahill contains numerous inaccuracies about COVID-19 and vaccines
— 22 May 2020
This video, first published on 11 May 2020, features an interview between Dave Cullen, also known as Computing Forever on YouTube, and Dolores Cahill, a professor at University Col...
“Plandemic” vignette featuring anti-vaccination activist Judy Mikovits contains numerous false and unsupported claims about COVID-19
— 08 May 2020
This video is the first in a series of vignettes preceding a movie titled “Plandemic”. First published on 5 May 2020, it quickly went viral on Facebook, with more than 2.2 mill...
Did the COVID-19 virus originate from a lab or nature? Examining the evidence for different hypotheses of the novel coronavirus’ origins
— 24 Apr 2020
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in December 2019, many hypotheses have been advanced to explain where the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) actually came from. Initial re...