Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here.
Well over 100,000 people in the state of Wisconsin are now claiming state or federal unemployment benefits, compared to just over 40,000 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
True
Video claiming the COVID-19 pandemic is staged.
False
Genomic sequencing efforts are limited in developing countries, but scientists are mobilizing to help.
-- Scientific American, June 21
Redfield argued COVID-19's efficient human-to-human spread contradicted behavior of other deadly coronaviruses with similar profiles.
-- Fox News, June 15
The virologist, Shi Zhengli, said in a rare interview that speculation about her lab in Wuhan was baseless. But China’s habitual secrecy makes her claims hard to validate.
-- New York Times (via Todayonline.com), June 14
Group of Seven leaders conferring at summit in England discussed causes of the global pandemic.
-- Wall Street Journal (via Mint), June 12
Large gatherings and much more lenient restrictions have allowed the virus to spread at devastating levels.
-- Scientific American, June 9
The Covid-19 pathogen has a genetic footprint that has never been observed in a natural coronavirus.
-- Wall Street Journal (via BizNews), June 6
Labs like the one in Wuhan are essential to preparing for future pandemics.
-- Washington Post, June 4
Throughout 2020, the notion that the novel coronavirus leaked from a lab was off-limits. Those who dared to push for transparency say toxic politics and hidden agendas kept us in the dark.
-- Vanity Fair, June 3
People who have had mild illness develop antibody-producing cells that can last lifetime.
-- Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, May 24
As scientists with relevant expertise, we agree with the WHO director-general, the United States and 13 other countries, and the European Union that greater clarity about the origins of this pandemic is necessary and feasible to achieve.
-- Science, May 14
Neither the natural emergence nor the lab escape hypothesis can yet be ruled out. There is still no direct evidence for either. So no definitive conclusion can be reached. That said, the available evidence leans more strongly in one direction than the other.
-- Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 5