.
Articles tagged with: COVID-19
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...
Viral New York Post article perpetuates the unfounded claim that the virus that causes COVID-19 is manmade
in New York Post, by Steven W. Mosher
— 02 Mar 2020
Overall, Mosher’s argument is based on unfounded speculation and scientific inaccuracies. Such claims, which continue to be perpetuated even by public officials, have real-world ...
CLAIM REVIEWS
Too early for conclusions on long-term COVID-19 immunity, but some findings suggest that immune memory against the virus lasts for up to eight months and possibly longer
CLAIM
“COVID-19 immunity likely lasts for years”
SOURCE: Neel V. Patel, MIT Technology Review
Published: 22 Jan 2021
VERDICT
People who received the COVID-19 vaccine aren’t more likely to develop facial paralysis than people who didn’t receive the vaccine
CLAIM
“13 Israelis suffer FACIAL PARALYSIS after taking Pfizer Covid jab”
SOURCE: Anonymous, RT (Russian Today)
Published: 19 Jan 2021
VERDICT
VAERS reports alone don’t demonstrate that the COVID-19 vaccines caused adverse events; evidence does not indicate vaccines caused Bell’s palsy and deaths
CLAIM
“Thousands of COVID Vaccine Injuries and 13 U.S. Deaths Reported in December Alone”; “In December, 3,916 COVID vaccine-related adverse events, including 13 deaths, were reported to VAERS”
SOURCE: Anonymous, Children's Health Defense
Published: 19 Jan 2021
VERDICT
Lower flu activity this season likely due to COVID-19 restrictions, increased flu vaccination, and other factors, not to misdiagnosis of flu cases as COVID-19
CLAIM
"There is no evidence to support the contention that masks would stop influenza while failing to stop COVID”; “Influenza has been renamed COVID-19 in large part”
SOURCE: Daniel Payne, Just the News
Published: 17 Jan 2021
VERDICT
Strong evidence lacking to support claim that ivermectin is a cure for COVID-19; there are only limited clinical results at this stage
CLAIM
Ivermectin “is a safe and widely available treatment for coronavirus”; it would “work like a vaccine”
SOURCE: Pearson Sharp, One America News Network
Published: 16 Jan 2021
VERDICT
Vaccines protect people from diseases, but don’t always prevent disease transmission; research ongoing to determine if COVID-19 vaccines stop transmission
CLAIM
The COVID-19 RNA vaccine “is not a vaccine”; a vaccine has to disrupt transmission by CDC and FDA standards; the vaccine “activate[s] the cell to become a pathogen-manufacturing site”
SOURCE: David Martin, New Earth Project
Published: 12 Jan 2021
VERDICT
COVID-19 vaccine did not cause the death of a Portuguese woman, contrary to social media posts’ suggestions
CLAIM
“Portuguese nurse dies two days after getting the Pfizer Covid vaccine”
SOURCE: Anonymous, Wion
Published: 08 Jan 2021
VERDICT
The CDC reports more than 2.9 million deaths in the U.S. in 2020; there were at least 377,000 more deaths in 2020 compared to previous years
CLAIM
the number of deaths in America in 2020 was not greater than that in 2019
SOURCE: Facebook users, Facebook, Twitter
Published: 07 Jan 2021
VERDICT
German study did not find wearing face masks harms children; study wasn’t designed to accurately test these effects
CLAIM
"A German study involving over 25,000 children reveals that major negative impacts on the physical, psychological, and behavioral health of children may be far more widespread than reported”
SOURCE: Anonymous, GreenMedInfo
Published: 06 Jan 2021
VERDICT
Nashville bomber died in the explosion, not from COVID-19
CLAIM
“Nashville bomber died from COVID-19”
SOURCE: Facebook users, Facebook
Published: 05 Jan 2021
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...