Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here.
There is no scientific basis behind the use of face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
False
Thai-language claims that non-medical masks are ineffective in preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Misleading
The technology could revolutionize efforts to immunize against HIV, malaria, influenza and more.
-- Nature, January 12
Nowhere on the list of prioritized recipients are public officials’ spouses. Yet the first ladies of Kentucky and West Virginia; Republican Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, Karen Pence; Democratic President-elect Joe Biden’s wife, Jill Biden; and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, were among the first Americans to get the potentially lifesaving shots.
-- Kaiser Health News, January 8
Social science offers valuable lessons about ways to convince those who are hesitant about the shots.
-- Scientific American, January 7
As scientists try to track the spread of a new, more infectious coronavirus variant around the world — finding more cases in the United States and elsewhere this week — they are also keeping an eye on a different mutation with potentially greater implications for how well Covid-19 vaccines work.
-- Stat, January 7
While some people are focused on COVID-19 and ways to get through the pandemic, scammers are looking for new ways to profit.
-- Trend Micro Check, December 30
-- Stat, December 21
Therapeutics and law expert lays out the economics of this drug development.
-- The Harvard Gazette, December 17
More than 300,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States.
-- Kaiser Health News, December 15
Months after infection with SARS-CoV-2, some people are still battling crushing fatigue, lung damage and other symptoms of ‘long COVID’.
-- Nature, September 14
The immune system is no wimp. When pathogens cause illness, it kicks into high gear. Cells work together to tag, kill and gobble up invaders as they fight the infection.
-- Stat, May 5