SciCheck Digest A conspiracy theory online baselessly suggests that the World Health Organization and other groups preplanned the variants of the novel coronavirus — citing a dubious timeline. But the timeline doesn’t square with the reality of when variants have been identified and designated thus far. What do we know […]
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Posts Baselessly Link COVID-19 Tests to Vaccine Conspiracy Theory
SciCheck Digest The COVID-19 vaccines currently in use must be administered via injection. But Instagram posts baselessly suggest that Bill Gates and George Soros will use COVID-19 tests to secretly vaccinate people who haven’t yet received the shots. There is no evidence for that conspiracy theory, and scientists say trying […]
Video Twists Advice on Delta Variant and Vaccination
SciCheck Digest An epidemiologist recommended that people get the COVID-19 vaccine because some evidence suggests an unvaccinated person who gets the delta variant is “twice as likely to require hospital treatment” than someone infected with the alpha variant. But a Facebook video twists that advice to claim that he said […]
Viral Posts Misrepresent CDC Announcement on COVID-19 PCR Test
SciCheck Digest Scientists consider polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests a highly reliable tool for diagnosing COVID-19. But social media posts are misrepresenting a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcement regarding the eventual discontinuation of its own test, falsely claiming the government has conceded that PCR tests aren’t […]
Beds for Olympic Athletes Were Not Designed for COVID-19 Concerns
SciCheck Digest Participants in the 2020 Olympic Games will be subject to many COVID-19 rules. But social media posts and a news report falsely claim athletes will be sleeping on specially made, flimsy “anti-sex beds” to prevent intimacy and COVID-19 infection. The beds were designed before the pandemic and can […]
Fauci and Paul, Round 2
At a July 20 Senate hearing, Republican Sen. Rand Paul and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, once again had a testy exchange over whether the U.S. funded gain-of-function research in China, with each man accusing the other of “lying.” Paul also suggested […]
Viral Posts Lift Bogus ‘Quarantine’ Story from Satire Site
SciCheck Digest A satire site a month ago published a joke about the Biden administration creating “quarantine camps” for the unvaccinated. Now that fabricated story is circulating online, presented as if it’s real. Could a COVID-19 vaccine become mandatory? Could a COVID-19 vaccine become mandatory? States and certain workplaces can […]
Debunking Trump’s Latest Arizona Election Claims
After a contractor hired by state Senate Republicans to look into the results of the 2020 Arizona election provided an update on its findings at a legislative hearing on July 15, former President Donald Trump issued a series of false and misleading statements about what it has uncovered. According to […]
Businessman’s Social Media Post Distorts Facts on Definition of a Pandemic
SciCheck Digest A businessman’s post on Instagram and Facebook wrongly claims that the U.S. government “changed the definition of pandemic” in 2004, suggesting that COVID-19 would not have qualified under the old definition. There’s no evidence for those claims — and COVID-19 is by all means a pandemic. How lethal […]
Mayim Bialik and Sons Got COVID-19 Vaccine
SciCheck Digest Actress and neuroscientist Mayim Bialik has expressed skepticism about vaccines in the past, but she says she and her two teenage children have received the COVID-19 vaccine. A Facebook post says Bialik “refuses to vaccinate,” leaving the false impression that she opposes COVID-19 vaccines. How do we know […]