Misleading
Tuberculosis, the flu, and COVID-19 differ in disease prevalence and burden, requiring different public health responses
Claim:
“Why don’t we wear masks for [tuberculosis]? Because CNN hasn’t instructed you to.”
Flora Teoh
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Source: Facebook, Facebook users, 2020-09-17 -
MisleadingCloth masks are effective at reducing virus transmission because it spreads in respiratory droplets, which are larger than smoke particles and the pores in fabric
Claim:
Cloth masks cannot block smoke particles which are larger than viruses, so masks cannot stop virus transmission
Source: Facebook, Facebook users, 2020-08-31 -
Flawed reasoningMisinterpreted New York Times report leads to false claim that the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is inflated by up to 90%
Claim:
COVID-19 case numbers are inflated due to PCR test sensitivity; “90% of positive COVID-19 tests should be negative”
Source: One America News Network, The Blaze, Liz Wheeler, Steve Deace, 2020-09-02 -
Inaccurate -
Flawed reasoningMasks offer only partial protection from the virus that causes COVID-19, but their effectiveness can be enhanced with other measures like physical distancing
Claim:
“Either masks work or they don’t”; “I don’t understand the safety concern with voting in person. Your mask works, right?”
Source: Facebook, Facebook users, 2020-06-30 -
InaccurateHuman DNA does not produce a positive result on the RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2
Claim:
“WHO coronavirus PCR test primer sequence is found in all human DNA”; “this means that the WHO test kits should find a positive result in all humans”
Source: Piece of Mindful, Anonymous, 2020-04-06 -
InaccurateAltered image falsely suggests that restaurant staff in Maine are required to wear dog cone-style face visors to protect against COVID-19
Claim:
“Governor of Maine orders restaurant staff to wear COVID visors like dog cones”
Source: Summit.news, Twitter/X, Paul Joseph Watson, Sherri Tenpenny, 2020-08-18 -
InaccurateListicle of “facts” about COVID-19 contains numerous inaccurate and misleading claims
Claim:
“The overall lethality of [COVID-19] (IFR) is about 0.1% to 0.3% and thus in the range of a severe influenza”
Source: Swiss Policy Research, Anonymous, 2020-03-14 -
“Plandemic: Indoctornation” video rehashes debunked claims and conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines
Plandemic is a pseudo-documentary produced by American filmmaker Mikki Willis, whose first instalment was published in May 2020. Featuring an…
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1.7Very highPotential role for T cells in COVID-19 immunity accurately reported in National Geographic article
“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, contribute in different ways to the body’s fight against viral infections. What remains to be seen and explored in greater detail is how important the role of antigen-specific T cells is in protecting people from a re-infection or ameliorating the disease symptoms.”