Lona Goudswaard

COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #15

 Posted by at 4:23 am  Politics
Jun 142020
 

The world is dealing with an unprecedented health crisis caused by a new virus. With new insights in the way COVID19 spreads, in the way the virus behaves and in the way to deal with the pandemic every day, it is now more important than ever to safeguard the information we share is accurate and fact-based. We have to inoculate ourselves against the fake news and misinformation that infect our newsfeeds and timelines at this crucial moment by fact-checking.

For the duration of the pandemic, I will try to give you an overview of the main issues in CoronaCheck, an Australian email newsletter with the latest from around the world concerning the coronavirus.*

As expected, with the curve flattening in Australia and Europe, the attention has turned to other news and the fake news and misinformation that go along with that, and fact-checkers are following. Unless a second wave of COVID-19 cases and fatalities brings about another wave of news manipulation, this article will now appear only once a week.

 

SOCIAL DISTANCING

A Meta-analysis (an analysis of existing scientific research) published in The Lancet found with “moderate certainty” that keeping a distance of a metre or more away from people with probable COVID-19, SARS or MERS cut the risk of infection from 13 per cent to 3 per cent. The analysis likewise found that “for every one metre further away in distancing, the relative effect might increase 2.02 times”.

So, according to Full Fact, the claims in UK media that keeping a distance of at least one metre from others could “slash the risk of catching coronavirus by 80 per cent”, and that doubling that distance may halve the risk, are both largely correct. But as Full Fact pointed out: “It is important to note that most of the research used in this study does not relate to COVID-19, but to SARS and MERS, diseases caused by other coronaviruses, which may spread differently.”

 

WEARING A MASK WON’T KILL YOU

Image source: Facebook

Fact-checkers at AFP found in a fact-check that a social media post claiming mask-wearing “reduces oxygen up to 60 per cent”, increased the risk of CO2 poisoning and led to more face touching to be misleading.

An associate medical officer of health at Toronto Public Health, Vinita Dubey, told AFP that if worn correctly, a cloth mask is unlikely to reduce oxygen enough that the wearer would pass out and that “prolonged use of a face mask, including the N95, has not been shown to cause carbon dioxide toxicity in healthy people”.

Another expert, Hyo-Jick Choi, of the University of Alberta, told the AFP fact-checkers he had not come across any study directly correlating mask-wearing to increased face-touching.

The claim of a woman in a viral video that mask-wearing hurts the immune system and does not protect from COVID-19 was also debunked by AFP, saying that “Multiple studies have shown that the use of masks can protect populations from COVID-19, including a recent publication by the UK’s Royal Society, which indicated that masks reduce droplets dispersal.”

According to Sheeley Payne, of the University of Texas, there’s no indication that masks hurt the immune system. As she told AFP, “there is no evidence that masks or gloves reduce the normal microbiota or predispose people to opportunistic infections”.

 

COVID-19 IS REAL AND DANGEROUS, TELL YOUR FRIENDS

Image source: Lead Stories

There are still a lot of claims going around that the COVID-19 pandemic is a hoax (or a flu-like illness, the severity of which has been greatly exaggerated), neither of which is true.

“There is no evidence of a connection between money donated to COVID-19 research and a pandemic designation,” the fact-checkers of Lead Stories concluded this week when they found that Bill Gates did not bribe the World Health Organisation with $50 million to declare COVID-19 a pandemic.

Lead Stories also debunked a claim that Russia used scientific data to expose the pandemic as a hoax, stating: “Authorities from Moscow’s health department did release information about antibody testing of a random population sample of Moscow residents in late May 2020, but they did not make the statement that COVID-19 is a fake pandemic.”

PolitFact found that a photo appearing to show a woman carrying a body bag casually in one hand, which was said to be further evidence that coronavirus is a hoax, instead showed a “symbolic funeral procession” as part of a protest in Florida against the reopening of the economy.

 

FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

President Trump has been very busy escalating protests across the US in response to the death of George Floyd, but that hasn’t stopped him from attempting to divert blame for the rising COVID-19 death toll, again insinuating that China deliberately spread the coronavirus to the US and other parts of the world while managing to curb its spread domestically.

In a Fox News radio interview, Mr Trump said: “[The virus] came out of Wuhan. Why is it that it didn’t go to China but it went to the rest of the world? It went to Europe. It went to the world. It went to the United States. But it didn’t go to Beijing.” He further pointed out: “It didn’t go to other parts of China. What’s that all about? So, how come they let it go out to the world, but they didn’t let it go into China. That’s a little strange deal going on there.”

Factcheck.org found that those claims were inaccurate and that the virus did spread outside of Wuhan to other parts of China, including Beijing and noted: “That the virus did not spread as widely in China as it did in other countries, including the US, is largely the result of extreme measures taken by the Chinese government to control its spread.”

Graphic of the week

Statistics from the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System show Australia was experiencing above-average flu numbers before social distancing.

There were just 208 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza in Australia during May this year, compared to 30,567 at the same time in 2019.

According to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the first two months of this year saw Australia on track to surpass record-breaking flu caseloads in 2019 before numbers halved in March.

“It just tells us the value of physically distancing, good hand hygiene, avoiding mass gatherings [when sick], cough etiquette and being aware of all those other strategies to avoid the transmission of infectious diseases,” said Kerry Hancock, chair of the RACGP Specific Interests Respiratory Medicine network.

 

Things that don’t cure and/or prevent COVID-19

#30: Drinking methanol, ethanol or bleach
“Methanol, ethanol, and bleach are poisons. Drinking them can lead to disability and death. Methanol, ethanol, and bleach are sometimes used in cleaning products to kill the virus on surfaces – however, you should never drink them. They will not kill the virus in your body and they will harm your internal organs.” – World Health Organisation

 

*The facts in this article are derived from the Australian RMIT ABC Fact Check newsletters which in turn draw on their own resources and those of their colleagues within the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which RMIT ABC Fact Check is a member.

 

Share

COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #14

 Posted by at 1:10 am  Politics
Jun 082020
 

The world is dealing with an unprecedented health crisis caused by a new virus. With new insights in the way COVID19 spreads, in the way the virus behaves and in the way to deal with the pandemic every day, it is now more important than ever to safeguard the information we share is accurate and fact-based. We have to inoculate ourselves against the fake news and misinformation that infect our newsfeeds and timelines at this crucial moment by fact-checking.

For the duration of the pandemic, I will try to give you an overview of the main issues in CoronaCheck, an Australian email newsletter with the latest from around the world concerning the coronavirus.*

INACCURATE LOCKDOWN INFORMATION

Image source: Facebook

A post of an unhappy Facebook user argues that the restrictions are overreach by claiming the unverified COVID-19 survival rate is 98.54 per cent, while others put the death rate at 0.1 per cent or even as low as 0.004 per cent.

Fact-checkers at PolitiFact found that although a 98.54 per cent survival rate wasn’t too far off the current figure for the US, the numbers were preliminary, likely to change and not as promising as it sounds. PolitiFact noted “Even a 1 per cent mortality rate (99 per cent survival rate) would mean that a disease is 10-times more lethal than the seasonal flu.”

Meanwhile, Full Fact looked into that same figure when it was shared in the UK when the true survival rate [in the US] or in the UK is not yet known.

In the US, Lead Stories looked into a claim that a “22 Trillion dollar economy” had been shut down to stop the spread of a virus with a 0.1 per cent death rate. However, this is roughly the death rate of the seasonal flu, while figures at the time showed about 5.8 per cent of confirmed coronavirus patients were dying.

Fact-checkers at Reuters, AAP, USA Today and AFP have all debunked similar claims.

QUEEN HASN’T ANNOUNCED CHILDREN TO BE TAKEN AWAY FROM HOMES

Image source: YouTube/Ricco Chie

The title of a YouTube video viewed more than 230,000 times suggests the World Health Organisation and Queen Elizabeth II are conspiring to remove children from their homes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

However, as Reuters points out, the title does not represent the footage it shows — neither the Queen nor the WHO have made any announcements regarding the evacuation of children from coronavirus-infected homes.

The video shows a WHO senior adviser saying that because people were quarantining at home to comply with lockdown laws, some vulnerable and sick people may be removed from homes so they could be isolated, but at no point mentions children.

Meanwhile, the Queen’s special broadcast amid the pandemic saw her reflecting on her first-ever broadcast in 1940, where she spoke of children being evacuated from cities during World War II. Referring to current lockdown measures, she noted that “once again, many will feel a painful sense of separation from their loved ones”.

WRONG QUOTE ATTRIBUTION

Image source: Facebook

“Once the herd accepts mandatory forcible vaccination, it’s game over,” the quote attributed to former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, which has spread on Facebook, begins. “They will accept anything — forcible blood or organ donation — for the ‘greater good’.”

While the image has been circulating since at least early 2019, i.e. before the start of the pandemic, it has gained traction in recent months despite the ongoing efforts of fact-checkers around the world as scientists work to produce a COVID-19 vaccine and authorities urge people to get a flu shot so as not to put added strain on healthcare systems during the pandemic.

Fact-checkers from PolitiFact, Snopes and Africa Check last year found no evidence of Dr Kissinger having ever made such a claim. Since the coronavirus outbreak and re-appearance of Kissinger’s image, Reuters and Full Fact have also dismissed the claim, with representatives of Dr Kissinger telling Reuters that the quote is a “complete fabrication”.

 

5G BIOSHIELD

Image source: Twitter/@TheKenMunroShow

A video claiming that 5G radio waves “penetrate red blood in the lungs, making them easy prey for COVID-19 to enter and cause oxygen starvation” has been debunked by Lead Stories.

“Scientists have proven that 5G broadband can’t enter the body because skin protects the internal organs,” the fact-checkers said.” A study cited in the video as evidence for the danger was found to relate to Wi-Fi, rather than 5G, and had been widely criticised by scientists.

Meanwhile, scams used the fear these claims invoke; a device marketed as a protective measure against the supposed harm of 5G has been found by IT experts to be nothing more than a cheap USB drive with a sticker on it.

The “quantum holographic catalyzer technology for the balance and harmonisation of the harmful effects of imbalanced electric radiation” was being sold for as much as £300 ($550).

Despite the myth being busted time again, anti-5G activists continue to push disinformation, with hundreds protesting in Australia over the rollout of the technology, as well as other gripes including vaccination and the coronavirus lockdown (see COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #13).

 

ANTIVAXXERS STRIKE AGAIN

Image source: Facebook

A Facebook post claiming that no virus harmful to humans “has ever been proven to exist” and that “you can’t make a vaccine for something you can’t even prove exists” has quickly been discredited by Reuters. Its fact-checkers reviewed an article published in the American Society for Microbiology’s Journal of Virology which listed measles, poliomyelitis, rabies, yellow fever and smallpox as viruses which infect and are harmful to humans.

And Lynda Coughlin, a virologist at Mt Sinai Hospital, told Reuters: “The statement that “no virus harmful to humans has ever been proven to exist” is absolutely false. There are numerous examples of viruses which are known to cause disease in humans.”

 

COORDINATED TROLLING ABOUND

Fact-checkers, researchers and journalists all over the world are piecing together a picture of the networks, groups and individuals spreading coronavirus misinformation, including some who are pushing nationalistic disinformation.

An investigation by the BBC found that a network of more than 1,200 Twitter, YouTube and Facebook accounts was being used to praise Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus crisis and at the same time amplifying negative messages about those who are critical of China’s response.

“Although there is no definitive evidence that this network is linked to the Chinese government,” the BBC said, “it does display features similar to a state-backed information operation originating in China that Facebook and Twitter removed last year.”

In the US, NBC has reported that “troll farms” in North Macedonia and the Philippines have been responsible for coronavirus disinformation on Facebook. A large publisher of fake content, Natural News”, an anti-vaccination news site that frequently posts false coronavirus conspiracy theories about 5G towers and Bill Gates, is already banned from the social media platform after pushing the discredited “Plandemic” video. NBC added that the trolls also posted content from Natural News’ sister sites, NewsTarget and Brighteon.

Meanwhile, new research commissioned by the Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology and conducted by experts at the Queensland University of Technology has found that pro-Trump and QAnon conspiracy Twitter bots have been responsible for pushing the theory that COVID-19 is a Chinese bio-weapon.

“The coordinated efforts to promote the bioweapon conspiracy theory focused on 882 original tweets, which were retweeted 18,498 times and liked 31,783 times, creating an estimated 5 million impressions on Twitter users,” the researchers found.

“Similar research in January suggests there is a sustained, coordinated effort to promote this theory by pro-Trump, Republican and aligned networks of accounts.”

 

FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

The Washington Post’s Fact-checker, having analysed thousands of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube posts and advertisements from US President Donald Trump, his campaign team and “a long list of surrogates”, has found that together they are creating an online “alternate reality” around the coronavirus.

“The data revealed the backbone of a five-point strategy to tell their version of the coronavirus story,” the fact-checkers determined. “Rewriting mistakes, highlighting achievements, deflecting blame, declaring victory and creating distraction.” (emphasis mine)

After downplaying the threat in the early stages of the virus outbreak, according to the Post, Mr Trump cum suis have pivoted to more self-promotional tactics in early March. By mid-April to early May, “[Mr] Trump and his team appeared to all but claim victory over the virus”, before moving on to discuss new topics online, including launching attacks on his political adversaries and presumptive election opponent Joe Biden.

“All presidential campaigns try to portray their candidate in the best possible light,” the fact-checkers concluded. “But what is notable about the Trump campaign is that its social media reach allows the campaign to rewrite even the most recent history.”

Things that don’t cure and/or prevent COVID-19

#29: Exposing yourself to the sun or temperatures higher than 25C
“You can catch COVID-19, no matter how sunny or hot the weather is. Countries with hot weather have reported cases of COVID-19.” –  World Health Organisation

 

*The facts in this article are derived from the Australian RMIT ABC Fact Check newsletters which in turn draw on their own resources and those of their colleagues within the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which RMIT ABC Fact Check is a member.

Share

As Seen from Afar 06/07/2020

 Posted by at 10:03 pm  Politics
Jun 062020
 

BLACK LIVES MATTER ACROSS THE WORLD

The Largest Demonstrations In Australia Despite The Coronavirus Pandemic

Protesters rallied in Canberra on Friday, ahead of more than 60,000 Australians taking part in rallies in the nation’s three biggest cities, with Brisbane attracting the largest crowd of about 30,000 people on Saturday.

Despite the federal and state governments pleading with people not to attend these demonstrations and avoid new outbreaks of COVID-19, Australia saw the largest protest gatherings in decades.

Crowds gather in Brisbane for a Black Lives Matter protest. (ABC News: Tim Swanston)

“It was a peaceful protest, without any real concerns, and we were happy with how it went,” a Queensland Police spokesperson told the ABC. “Police were even handing out face masks to people.”

The Sydney rally of around 20,000 people came after the New South Wales Court of Appeal ruled in favour of a last-ditch attempt to lawfully authorise a Sydney protest. The last-minute decision meant those marching in Sydney were immune from prosecution for breaching public health orders.

Indigenous Black Lives Matter Too

Current events in the United States had inevitably refocused attention on Australian Indigenous issues. And the call to protest has resonated because of it. These are demonstrations of solidarity highlighted by local injustices and problems.

Events in the United States following the death of George Floyd have inevitably refocused attention on Australian Indigenous issues.(ABC News: Jack Fisher)

[In Australia] deaths of Indigenous people in custody continue — more than 400 over the past three decades — as does excessive use of force on occasion (which happened this week with a policeman’s reaction to the threatening language used by an Aboriginal youth in Sydney).

The high rate of incarceration of Indigenous Australians remains unaddressed; appalling conditions exist in many communities. Labor’s spokeswoman for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, herself Indigenous, said this week that “in some parts of Australia, particularly in the north, the incarcerated population — adult and juvenile — are almost all Indigenous”.

 Australian Government’s Reaction to Protests

Senior Federal Government Minister Mathias Cormann has taken aim at Australian Black Lives Matter protesters, dubbing their actions “selfish”, “self-indulgent” and “reckless” amid the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Deputy Opposition Leader Richard Marles said his comments were tone-deaf.

“I don’t feel like I’m in a position to say to Indigenous Australians, who are protesting against that, that this is a selfish and indulgent act,” he told the ABC’s Insiders program. “I felt uncomfortable about the mass gathering but I’m not about to engage in that kind of judgement of those who did it.”

Protests In European Countries

¨Large numbers of people took to the streets in European cities on Saturday to demonstrate in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, some defying restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The protests in capitals such as London, Paris and Berlin were the latest in a global wave of anger and revulsion at racism and police brutality, following the killing of black American George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis.

UK

People hold placards during a Black Lives Matter rally in Parliament Square in London, Saturday, June 6, 2020.   –   Copyright  AP Photo/Frank Augstein

Thousands of people gathered outside the UK Parliament and the US embassy in London to protest against racism, despite official warnings to stay away for fear of spreading COVID-19 infections. Many wore face masks but the density of the crowd made it impossible to observe social distancing.

Demonstrators take part in a Black Lives Matter rally in Parliament Square in London, Saturday, June 6, 2020.AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali

The rallies were largely peaceful but in the early evening, some protesters clashed with police near Downing Street, the prime minister’s residence. Police brought out riot gear and mounted police charged at demonstrators to clear them from the area.

More demonstrations took place in Manchester and other cities in England, in the wake of similar protests during the week. Rallies are planned in Scotland on Sunday.

France

Another large demonstration took place in Paris, despite a police ban on the protest, the authorities citing the risk of spreading COVID-19 and fears of public unrest. The police decree noted that social distancing regulations ban gatherings of more than 10 people.

Preparing for the eventuality that protesters would ignore the ban, French police sealed off roads around the US Embassy early on Saturday.

A communique from the Prefecture noted that several calls had gone out on social media calling for demonstrations near the Eiffel Tower against “police violence”, despite a ban for public health reasons.

Crowds also turned out to demonstrate in other cities in France, including Bordeaux, Lyon, Lille, Rennes and Marseille — where some skirmishes were reported. The interior ministry estimated the number of protesters in France at 23,300, of whom 5,500 were in Paris.

Germany

Protesters in Cologne

Germany saw the largest crowds demonstrating in Europe. In Berlin, police estimated that 15,000 people gathered in the city centre for a Black Lives Matter rally on Saturday afternoon. As elsewhere, protesters held up signs with slogans such as “No justice, no peace”. The scenes were calm, though overnight on Friday police said several store windows were smashed and walls were painted with slogans referring to George Floyd’s death. Protesters also gathered in München (20,000),  Hamburg (14,000), Cologn and other cities.

Black Lives Matter demonstrations were also reported from Italy, The Netherlands, South Korea

References:

ABC News: Mathias Cormann criticises Black Lives Matter protesters for gathering amid coronavirus By political correspondent Brett Worthington

ABC News: Coronavirus killed Indigenous referendum, delivers likely mortal blow to religious discrimination legislation. The Conversation / By Michelle Grattan

EuroNews: Black Lives Matter: Large anti-racism protests in Europe despite pandemic restrictions. By Alasdair Sandford with AP, AFP

Share

COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #13

 Posted by at 3:45 am  Politics
Jun 042020
 

The world is dealing with an unprecedented health crisis caused by a new virus. With new insights in the way COVID19 spreads, in the way the virus behaves and in the way to deal with the pandemic every day, it is now more important than ever to safeguard the information we share is accurate and fact-based. We have to inoculate ourselves against the fake news and misinformation that infect our newsfeeds and timelines at this crucial moment by fact-checking.

For the duration of the pandemic, I will try to give you an overview of the main issues in CoronaCheck, an Australian email newsletter with the latest from around the world concerning the coronavirus.*

KILL BILL (1)

Image source: Nicolas Zoumboulis/The Swanston Gazette

Despite coronavirus lockdown restrictions, hundreds of people have gathered at rallies across Australia to protest against 5G technology, mandatory vaccination and a host of other grievances.

Last weekend an event was organised in Melbourne by the Facebook page ‘MMAMV Australia‘ (Millions March Against Mandatory Vaccination), and information about the protests was shared within the Facebook group ‘99% unite Main Group “it’s us or them”‘, which has more than 58,000 members and is popular with conspiracy theorists who continue to repeat claims about supposed health risks linked to 5G technology and vaccines which have been debunked elsewhere.

But the Facebook event pages promoting these rallies also urged people to attend if they were concerned over a wide range of issues around COVID-19 Many attendees held signs that called for the arrest or death of Bill Gates, referring to the profusion of debunked claims and conspiracies about the Microsoft founder.

Some went so far as to claim the entire COVID-19 pandemic was a hoax, insisting that the virus was not “as bad as people have said”, with others adding: “We don’t even know anyone who has COVID-19, and if you’ve got doctors and nurses who have got no work to do, how real can it be?”

With efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine continuing, the crowd voiced concerns around the “toxic” make-up of vaccines, claims which have been extensively researched and were recently marked by Full Fact as extremely misleading.

 

HAND SANITIZER

Image source: Facebook

The use of hand sanitiser is the next best thing after washing your hands for 20 seconds, but a viral social media post purporting to show the aftermath of a car fire caused by an exploding bottle of hand sanitiser left out on a hot day may have some people worried.

However, Full Fact found that unless the car had reached temperatures of more than 350 degrees celsius, an external spark would be needed to ignite the sanitiser. Fact-checkers have also been unable to verify whether the fire damage in the photo was truly caused by exploding hand sanitiser.

 

CORONA CHILDREN

Image source: Facebook (1, 2)

Facebook pages have fraudulently used an old photo of a sick baby in a post claiming the child had contracted the coronavirus after open heart surgery, according to fact-checkers at Lead Stories.

“This is baby Kyle. Few weeks ago He survived an opened heart surgery, And today the doctors confirm That he has Corona Virus,” the post states. “He only want you to help him out, by sharing this post to even if it’s 5 different Facebook groups so He can get many prayers as possible.”

This wasn’t the only photo used to stimulate Facebook likes amid the pandemic. Lead Stories also found an altered photo of a little girl, with a breathing tube, holding a sign with an accompanying caption that falsely suggested she had COVID-19. “Nobody wants to pray for me,” the sign says. “Please like my photo and pray.”

But in the original photo, shared on Reddit five months ago, the sign says: “It’s my last day of chemo!”

 

JAPAN WILL PAY FOR YOUR HOLIDAY

Image source: 7News

After Australian websites including 7News recently ran headlines declaring “Japan could pay for part of your post-coronavirus holiday”, fact-checkers at AFP warned that’s not the case. In reality, the subsidised travel plan being considered by Japan would only apply to Japanese residents travelling within the country, not to foreign visitors.

“Please note that the Go to Travel Campaign under consideration by the Japanese government is to stimulate domestic travel demand within Japan after the Covid-19 pandemic and only cover a portion of domestic travel expenses,” the Japan Tourism Agency said in a series of tweets

 

DOLLAR BILL (2)

Image source: Facebook

“What’s bill gates and the Corona virus doing on Australian 10 dollar note?” a  post asks, alongside a photo of the note. “Many will just blow this off. Wake up, it’s been planned for years.”

Of course, the note, which has been in circulation since 2017, doesn’t show Bill Gates or the coronavirus as fact-checkers at AFP have (not surprisingly) discovered. According to the Reserve Bank of Australia the person depicted is Australian writer Mary Gilmore, whereas the circular illustration is a “designer’s interpretation of a Bramble Wattle”, a native Australian bush.

 

CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF BILL (3)

Image source: Facebook

It’s not only Australia which can’t get enough of Bill Gates.

Mr. Gates did not “explain” how he injects GMOs (genetically modified organisms) into “little kids’ arms … right into the vein”, as one video purports to show. According to Lead Stories the clip had been taken and shared out of context.

“While this is a real video clip of [Mr Gates] speaking, he was making an analogy that he believes the safety of genetically modified crops should be tested before becoming part of the human diet just as vaccines are tested before being given to children.”

Meanwhile, Reuters found that neither Mr Gates, nor his wife Melinda, nor US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci nor the head of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, are set to appear before the “Human Rights Tribunal International” on charges of war crimes, as was claimed in a number of Facebook posts. “The posts purport to show a letter from the Human Rights Tribunal International, an organisation that does not exist either in the United States or elsewhere.”

If you’ve read most of the COVID-19 Fact and Fiction articles and you are wondering why yhey contain so many references to Bill Gates, his wife and his organization, this graph from the ABC showing Facebook mentions of “Bill Gates” and “vaccines” over recent months may give you some insight how both topics have been lightning rods for coronavirus conspiracies and misinformation.

Fact-checkers are having a very hard time just to keep up with these attacks on the Gates and with debunking them.

 

FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

US President Donald Trump has been heavily criticised for playing golf over the recent Memorial Day long weekend as the country’s coronavirus death toll neared 100,000.

As usual, Mr Trump’s response was to point the finger at his predecessor and to accuse the media in a series of tweets of ignoring “all of the time [Barack] Obama spent on the golf course, often flying to Hawaii in a big, fully loaded 747, to play. What did that do to the so-called Carbon Footprint?”

Fact-checkers at CNN’s Facts First calculated that President Obama had played 98 rounds of golf up to the same point in his presidency as Mr Trump. By contrast, Mr Trump has spent time at a Trump golf course on 266 days of his term so far, according to CNN.

As to the biggest carbon footprint, Trump was again the clear winner. “Just Trump’s airplane trips to his Mar-a-Lago Club and residence in Florida, from which he has often taken a motorcade ride to a nearby golf course he owns, have required far more air travel than Obama’s once-a-year Hawaii vacations did through this point in the term.”

 

Things that don’t cure and/or prevent COVID-19

#28: Adding hot peppers (capsicum/chilli) to food
“Hot peppers in your food, though very tasty, cannot prevent or cure COVID-19.” ⁠— World Health Organisation

 

*The facts in this article are derived from the Australian RMIT ABC Fact Check newsletters which in turn draw on their own resources and those of their colleagues within the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which RMIT ABC Fact Check is a member.

Share

COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #12

 Posted by at 7:49 am  Politics
Jun 012020
 

The world is dealing with an unprecedented health crisis caused by a new virus. With new insights in the way COVID19 spreads, in the way the virus behaves and in the way to deal with the pandemic every day, it is now more important than ever to safeguard the information we share is accurate and fact-based. We have to inoculate ourselves against the fake news and misinformation that infect our newsfeeds and timelines at this crucial moment by fact-checking.

For the duration of the pandemic, I will try to give you an overview of the main issues in CoronaCheck, an Australian email newsletter with the latest from around the world concerning the coronavirus.*

MORE MISINFORMATION ON FLU VACCINES

Image source: Facebook

Inaccurate claims about the flu vaccine and its relationship to the novel coronavirus continue to circulate, despite the best efforts of fact-checkers.

This week PolitiFact, factcheck.org and Reuters have checked inaccurate claims suggesting that the seasonal jab for the flue leads to false positives in coronavirus tests or even that the jab contains the virus itself. Both suggestions are incorrect.

According to PolitiFact, a Facebook post stating “If you have had a flu shot in the last 3-5 years, you will probably test positive” for COVID-19 was labelled “nonsense” by Davidson Hamer, a global health and medicine professor at Boston University.

A claim that the flu vaccine “has been biologically weaponised to cause coronavirus” was debunked by Reuters, whose fact-checkers noted: “There is no evidence to suggest that the influenza vaccine contains the novel coronavirus or causes COVID-19.”

 

HYDROCHLOROQUINE AND 5GL

Image source: Facebook

Again a claim linking 5G mobile technology to the coronavirus outbreak is being spread on Facebook, this time concerning another controversial item in the disinformation folly, hydroxychloroquine.

“Hydroxychloroquine cures this ‘virus’,” a Facebook post states. “It just so happens this is the treatment used for radiation sickness!! Let that sink in!”

Opponents of 5G have called out radiation sickness as one of the adverse health effects associated with the technology.

Fact-checkers at Full Fact and PolitiFact found there was no clear evidence that hydroxychloroquine was an effective treatment for COVID-19 and it is not used to treat radiation sickness either.

 

INFODEMIC

Fact-checkers and misinformation researchers around the globe not only try to correct the record on false and inaccurate claims around COVID-19 but also attempt to understand and track the spread of the “infodemic”.

On the one hand, researchers found that a quarter of the most viewed COVID-19 videos on YouTube, viewed by millions of users worldwide, contained misleading information and “may play a significant role in successfully managing the COVID-19 pandemic,” the researchers said.

On the other hand, social media investigators found that nearly half of all Twitter accounts posting about the virus were likely to be bots, twice as much bot activity as predicted based on previous natural disasters, crises and elections, according to Kathleen M Carley, a researcher with Carnegie Mellon University.

In Australia, the misinformation campaigns seem to be rather successful, with one in five surveyed young people (18-34) reporting that they think 5G mobile technology is spreading the coronavirus.

And a brand-new Australian report suggests that theory has been amplified on Twitter through the “coordinated” efforts of clusters of Pro-Trump, QAnon and Republican partisan accounts (emphasis mine).

 “The whole idea of bots is really quite contentious at the moment, but there’s really no other conclusion that we can draw from this, other than some of these accounts are using some sort of automation,” Dr Timothy Graham said, one of the authors of The Australian Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology report released today (June first 2020).

 “They might be semi-controlled by humans but how they’re behaving in these networks, at least in some clusters, is text-book bot-like behaviour. We can’t know for sure but there’s overwhelming evidence based on this approach, where groups of accounts repeatedly retweet the same content within one second of each other.”

 

INTERPRETING STATISTICS IN ITALY

Image source: Facebook

A claim made by an Italian politician that 96.3 per cent of more than 32,000 COVID-19 deaths in his country were actually from other causes is false, according to Full Fact.

The source of the claim turned out to be a report from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Higher Institute of Health) on April 20 which had found that of 21,551 Italians who had died with COVID-19, just 3.7 per cent had no co-morbidities.

“This means that 96.3% of the people who had died in Italy after testing positive for the new coronavirus had also suffered from at least one condition,” Full Fact noted. “It does not mean that the virus did not cause their death.”

 

HISTORY REWRITTENImage source: Facebook

A quote shared widely on Facebook reads “The best way to take control over a people and control them utterly is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions,” and is said to have come from Hitler’s Mein Kampf. “In this way, the people will not see those rights and freedoms being removed until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed.”

A caption accompanying the post (dated May 12) states: “This is what’s happening to us now … little by little.”

But fact-checkers at PolitiFact and Reuters note that comparing current coronavirus restrictions to Hitler’s ideology is based on misattribution. The Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History, which studies 20th-century German history, told Reuters the words were misattributed and had “never been written in Mein Kampf”. PolitiFact noted that the quote also misrepresents Hitler’s beliefs and actions. “Instead of small changes that slowly eroded the rights of the German people, Hitler made large changes over a short period.”

 

FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

This week, an official fact-check warning label by Twitter appears to have been a tipping point for Mr Trump who responded to having his tweets about postal voting labelled by the social media platform by signing an executive order intended to challenge protections provided by US law that prevent social media companies being sued over what gets posted to their sites.

“In a country that has long cherished the freedom of expression, we cannot allow a limited number of online platforms to hand pick the speech that Americans may access and convey on the internet,” Mr Trump defended his order.

Mr Trump then went on to claim the warning label placed on his tweets were done in a matter “that clearly reflects political bias”.

“As has been reported, Twitter seems never to have placed such a label on another politician’s tweet,” he said, “As recently as last week, [Democratic] Representative Adam Schiff was continuing to mislead his followers by peddling the long-disproved Russian Collusion Hoax, and Twitter did not flag those tweets.”

But as factcheck.org has covered the assertions that it is a “hoax” to suggest his presidential campaign had ties to Russia are not quite correct, with the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller establishing “multiple links between Trump Campaign officials and individuals tied to the Russian government”. Ultimately, however, “the investigation did not establish that the Campaign coordinated or conspired with the Russian government in its election-interference activities.”

Meanwhile, Mr Trump has doubled down on his claims that led to the Twitter warning and a slew of fact checks, tweeting in all caps:

“MAIL-IN VOTING WILL LEAD TO MASSIVE FRAUD AND ABUSE. IT WILL ALSO LEAD TO THE END OF OUR GREAT REPUBLICAN PARTY. WE CAN NEVER LET THIS TRAGEDY BEFALL OUR NATION.”

 

PLANDEMIC INFODEMIC

The New York Times has tracked how the coronavirus misinformation spouted in the movie “Plandemic” spread online, comparing the viral video to other conspiracies as well as moments in pop culture.

This graph shows how the video garnered nearly 2.5 million reactions, including likes, shares and comments, in less than two weeks, while a Taylor Swift concert and reunion of actors from “The Office” captured a fraction of that attention.

 

SOME HELP WITH RECOGNISING FAKE NEWS

 

*The facts in this article are derived from the Australian RMIT ABC Fact Check newsletters which in turn draw on their own resources and those of their colleagues within the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which RMIT ABC Fact Check is a member.

Share

COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #11

 Posted by at 12:11 am  Politics
May 292020
 

The world is dealing with an unprecedented health crisis caused by a new virus. With new insights in the way COVID19 spreads, in the way the virus behaves and in the way to deal with the pandemic every day, it is now more important than ever to safeguard the information we share is accurate and fact-based. We have to inoculate ourselves against the fake news and misinformation that infect our newsfeeds and timelines at this crucial moment by fact-checking.

For the duration of the pandemic, I will try to give you an overview of the main issues in CoronaCheck, an Australian email newsletter with the latest from around the world concerning the coronavirus.*

OLD FASHIONED MISINFORMATION

Image source: supplied

In Australia, spreaders of coronavirus misinformation apparently do not want to rely on social media only and have delivered a pamphlet full of misinformation and conspiracy theories to Melbourne homes, which has been debunked by RMIT ABC Fact-check.

The unknown and untraceable authors of the pamphlet made their case for the removal of lockdown restrictions and emergency laws by comparing Australia’s low COVID-19 death toll to the number of deaths caused by the seasonal flu.

However, as Lyn Gilbert, a chief investigator at the Australian Partnership for Preparedness Research on Infectious Disease Emergencies (APPRISE), pointed out, the main reason for the low coronavirus death rate was because “we have been so successful in all the suppression measures put in place early on, before the virus was transmitted widely in the community. [] You only have to look at what happened in Italy, in Brazil, the United Kingdom, the US, or many European countries where their health systems and socio-economic conditions are not dissimilar to Australia’s, to see that if we hadn’t done this early we could easily have been in the same sort of situation.”

The pamphlet further contained the misleading claims that death rates in the US supposedly were being inflated, that a vaccination conspiracy was led by Bill Gates and pharmaceutical companies and that the coronavirus pandemic was contrived.

 

COVID-19 BY ANY OTHER NAME

Image source: RMIT ABC Fact-check

In just a few short weeks, COVID-19 has become a household word. But how was its name, or that of other fatal viruses derived?

Donald Trump has been referring to COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus” and, while there may be a political behind it in this case, giving the virus a geographical label isn’t without precedent as viruses were usually named after the area or locale where they were thought to have originated. Think Ebola, Hendra and MERS.

In 2015, the World Health Organisation called upon scientists, governments and the media to adhere to what it called “best practices” by naming viruses to minimise “unnecessary negative effects on nations, economies and people”. WHO announced on February 11 that the novel coronavirus would be named COVID-19, an abbreviation of “coronavirus disease 2019” — “CO” (corona), “VI” (virus), “D” (disease) and “19” (2019).

POLICE DEATHS

Image source: Facebook

“You know what I find amazing,” a post on Facebook begins. “Police are not following social distances guidance obviously, but we have not heard across the world of one police officer dying due to Covid 19.”

A false claim, according to Reuters’ fact-checkers who found that police officers in the UK, the US, France, Italy and Peru had died after contracting the virus. They also found that the photo accompanying the post was first published in 2018, long before social distancing rules.

BILL GATES REVISITED

Image source: Clover Chronicle

Another week has gone and another tide of misinformation surrounding Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates had to be stemmed.

Snopes found that a video did not show Mr Gates briefing the CIA about a “mind-altering vaccine”, nor is Italy calling for his arrest.

PolitiFact found that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was not “spending billions to ensure that all medical and dental injections and procedures include …. [tracking micro]chips”. Mr Gattes had also not said a coronavirus vaccine would “permanently alter your DNA”.

Further, the team at PolitiFact, along with fact-checkers at AFP, found that a claim that Mr Gates had admitted “his COVID-19 vaccine might kill nearly 1 million people” was false.

 

ANTI-VAXXING ON THE RISE IN AUSTRALIA

The monthly number of engagements of 12 Australian anti-vaccine Facebook accounts in the last six months. (Graph shows the complete total for each month up to May, which shows data so far for the month.) CrowdTangle

In one of their final stories before being shut down last week, BuzzFeed News Australia found that some of Australia’s biggest anti-vaccination Facebook pages and Instagram accounts had increased sharply their follower counts, frequency of posting and monthly engagement since February, coinciding with the coronavirus outbreak.

The reporting found that 12 major anti-vax Facebook pages had almost doubled their monthly engagement since February, while on Instagram, 24 accounts had seen five times more engagement, nearly doubling their followers. These accounts had also doubled their content output, despite efforts by Facebook (which owns Instagram) to crack down on misinformation being posted on the platform.

“That content frequently contains misinformation about COVID-19 or vaccines, and sometimes even includes content that has already been banned from social media platforms,” BuzzFeed found.

Meanwhile, their US counterparts (whose newsroom has not closed) have published a list of “fake experts” pushing coronavirus pseudoscience, including Judy Mikovits, the doctor featured in the “Plandemic” viral video, and Rashid Buttar, whose claims regarding the flu vaccine have been widely debunked.

KEEP CORRECTING MISINFORMATION

Fact-checking can sometimes seem like a lost cause: the people who are posting false claims and conspiracies can be so determined that it doesn’t matter how often the record is corrected.

But according to fact-checkers at PolitiFact, a recent survey showed 34 per cent of people recalled seeing someone else get corrected on social media after sharing misinformation about COVID-19. They also found research showing “when people correct misinformation on their social media feeds, misperceptions decrease”.

Helpfully, the team has detailed six ways to fact-check coronavirus misinformation on your timeline.

  1. Don’t brush it off.
  2. Consider your approach carefully
  3. Tailoring your language
  4. Stick to the truth
  5. Choose your sources wisely
  6. Avoid making it political.
FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

Twitter has added warning labels to two of US President Donald Trump’s tweets after coming under fire for perceived failures in stopping the spread of misinformation on its platform, particularly about COVID-19.

Note: the warning labels were added to two of Trump’s tweets on postal voting, but none were added to his COVID-19 related tweets.

In the tweets, Mr Trump claimed that mail-in voting, a form of postal voting which is being widely rolled out in states such as California amid the coronavirus pandemic, will be “substantially fraudulent”.

“Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed,” Mr Trump said, adding that anyone living in California would receive a ballot and told who to vote for.

“This will be a Rigged Election. No way!”, he concluded.

A label added to the tweets shows an exclamation mark and links to a page containing “the facts about mail-in voting”. That page includes articles from CNN, The Hill and The Washington Post and refutes inaccuracies in Mr Trump’s tweets.

According to the Twitter page, fact-checkers have found no evidence that mail-in voting is linked to voter fraud. It is also incorrect that all Californian residents would be receiving ballots — they are only sent to registered voters.

Mr Trump responded with angry tweets, suggesting Twitter was interfering with the 2020 presidential election and stifling free speech.

“I, as President, will not allow it to happen!”, he said.

Update: President Donald Trump is escalating his war on social media companies, signing an executive order challenging the liability protections that have served as a bedrock for unfettered speech on the internet.

 

SOME HELP RECOGNISING INFORMATION

Produced by First Draft, this graph helps explain the difference between some of the main types of false and misleading information.

 

Things that don’t cure and/or prevent COVID-19

#27: Semen
“The claims are ridiculous,” said Dr Marco Vignuzzi, one of the authors of a study that has been used as the basis for social media posts suggesting semen cures COVID-19. He told AFP: “Our work has nothing to do with semen, nor with COVID.” — AFP Fact-check

 

*The facts in this article are derived from the Australian RMIT ABC Fact Check newsletters which in turn draw on their own resources and those of their colleagues within the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which RMIT ABC Fact Check is a member.

Share

COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #10

 Posted by at 5:48 am  Politics
May 252020
 

The world is dealing with an unprecedented health crisis caused by a new virus. With new insights in the way COVID19 spreads, in the way the virus behaves and in the way to deal with the pandemic every day, it is now more important than ever to safeguard the information we share is accurate and fact-based. We have to inoculate ourselves against the fake news and misinformation that infect our newsfeeds and timelines at this crucial moment by fact-checking.

For the duration of the pandemic, I will try to give you an overview of the main issues in CoronaCheck, an Australian email newsletter with the latest from around the world concerning the coronavirus.*

COVID LINK to 5G CELL TOWERS DEBUNKED

Image source: Instagram

The stream of misinformation surrounding 5G technology and the coronavirus seems to be exponentially increasing, so much so that it has prompted Australia’s chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, to address the issue at a recent press briefing where he noted there was “absolutely no evidence about 5G doing anything in the coronavirus space”. Dr Murphy added, “I have unfortunately received a lot of communication from these conspiracy theorists myself it is complete nonsense.”

It prompted the UK government to seek partnership with Twitter; users searching for 5G conspiracy tweets will see a pop-up with the text “the UK government has said there is no evidence of a link between 5G and coronavirus (COVID-19)” and directing them to further information.

Recent 5G misinformation consists of a video, viewed thousands of times, which shows a supposed telecoms engineer who is erecting 5G masts in the UK holding up an electrical circuit board and claiming it is “a piece of kit that has COV-19 on it”.

Reuters found that this video was staged; the circuit board isn’t used in 5G technology but was taken from a Virgin Media box for cable television. Virgin Media told Reuters the board was from a “very old set-top box” and had never been inscribed or imprinted with “COV-19”. Virgin maintained
“[The board] has absolutely no relation with any mobile network infrastructure, including that used for 5G.”

Another claim that “radiation pneumonitis”, allegedly caused by 5G, was being misdiagnosed as COVID-19 was also found to be false by Reuters.

 

REMDESIVIR FACTS

Remdesivir is an experimental antiviral drug, manufactured by the pharmaceutical company Gilead and recently approved as a COVID-19 treatment in the US. In Australia, the drug is not yet being used in any clinical trials, although it is expected some hospitals are to receive doses of the drug for use with COVID-19 patients.

Misinformation around many COVID-19 treatments, including remdesivir, has spread rapidly throughout the pandemic. For example, a Facebook post claimed that hydroxychloroquine, another touted COVID-19 treatment mentioned here before, was “91 per cent effective” and cheap, while remdesivir was effective in just 50 per cent of patients and cost US$1,000. “Why is Fauci pushing Remdesivir? It was invented by Fauci and Gates. Its stock is now soaring. Always follow the $$$$$$$.” the post stated, pointing to US infectious diseases expert and White House adviser Anthony Fauci and the much-maligned Bill Gates.

But as USA Today found, neither hydroxychloroquine nor remdesivir had been proven effective against COVID-19, with clinical trials ongoing. Further, Gilead Sciences is the only organisation that could profit from the sale of remdesivir and neither Mr Gates nor Dr Fauci had any involvement in the development of the drug.

Another Facebook post imagines a remdesivir conspiracy centred around Unitaid, which it suggests is Gilead’s “drug patent sharing subsidiary branch”. According to the post, Unitaid has an office in Wuhan and is backed by Bill and Melinda Gates, billionaire investor George Soros and the World Health Organisation. Hillary Clinton, Dr Fauci and Wuhan’s Institute of Virology are also mentioned.

Snopes found these claims to be false. Unitaid is not linked to Gilead and does not have an office near Wuhan. And while the organisation, which invests in innovations to prevent, diagnose and treat several global health issues, is supported financially by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, it has no ties to Mr Soros or Dr Fauci. Unitaid is a “hosted partnership” of the WHO but receives no financial support from the organisation.

 

PNEUMONIA VS THROMBOSIS

Image source: AP/Zhang Yuwei Via Xinhua

Some news stories lately have raised concerns that COVID-19, which has been viewed mainly as respiratory disease, may also have patients die through thrombosis (the formation of blood clots).

Full Fact took a look at claims posted on social media that COVID-19 patients were being misdiagnosed with pneumonia when in fact they were suffering from thrombosis. The posts propagated to fight the disease is with “antibiotics, antivirals, anti-inflammatories and anticoagulants”.

The fact-checkers found that patients were not being “misdiagnosed” with pneumonia. Rather, both pneumonia and Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC), which leads to thrombosis, was present in COVID-19 cases. Indian-based BOOM also found that respiratory failure rather than thrombosis was the leading cause of COVID-19 deaths with thrombosis of the lungs “a factor that can further complicate the course of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients,” they said.

Full Fact found that antibiotics were not recommended for treatment, as they are effective for bacterial infections only and no specific antiviral has been shown conclusively to be effective against COVID-19. Anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen could help treat COVID-19 symptoms at home, and there was evidence to suggest anticoagulants facilitated the treatment of some patients.

 

EXERCISE

Many are turning to exercise to relieve boredom and stay fit and healthy during the coronavirus restrictions. Some online claims, however, have suggested that exercise may weaken the immune system. One advertisement linking to an article claims that a “window of opportunity” exists in the hours after strenuous exercise which can leave people vulnerable to infection from viruses.

USA Today’s fact-checkers found that the “window of opportunity” theory has been around for decades, supported by at least one study that found “vigorous workouts could have a temporary negative effect on the immune system”.  But as to the long-term effects of exercising, several scientific studies suggested regular exercise promotes good health and reduces the risk of infections.

John Campbell, of the University of Bath’s Department of Health, told USA Today that “People should not fear that their immune system will be suppressed by exercise, placing them at increased risk of coronavirus.”

 

FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

As the US grapples with soaring numbers of COVID-19 cases and the highest number of deaths in the world, Republicans are blaming former Democratic president Barack Obama for having left the current administration poorly placed to cope with the pandemic.

During an online discussion hosted by President Trump’s re-election campaign, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said it may no longer be that pandemics are a once-in-100-year occurrence, and he wanted to be ready for the next one.

“Clearly, the Obama administration did not leave to this administration any kind of game plan for something like this.”

But fact-checkers at the Washington Post, CNN’s Fact First and Politifact found that claim to be false, and that the Obama administration had left behind a 40-page National Security Council “playbook” on fighting pandemics.

“McConnell is wrong to say the Obama administration left “no game plan” to deal with a pandemic,” the Washington Post concluded. “The Obama team crafted a detailed document setting forth questions and policies that should be considered, as well as put in place programs that might have helped spur action sooner.”

Senator McConnell later conceded in a Fox News interview: “I was wrong.”

 

Things that don’t cure and/or prevent COVID-19

#26: Brown sugar
“There is no official cure for COVID-19 as of May 21, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). There are several clinical trials being conducted to test potential cures, but consuming brown sugar is not one of them.” – Rappler

 

*The facts in this article are derived from the Australian RMIT ABC Fact Check newsletters which in turn draw on their own resources and those of their colleagues within the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which RMIT ABC Fact Check is a member.

Share

COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #9

 Posted by at 1:18 am  Politics
May 212020
 

The world is dealing with an unprecedented health crisis caused by a new virus. With new insights in the way COVID19 spreads, in the way the virus behaves and in the way to deal with the pandemic every day, it is now more important than ever to safeguard the information we share is accurate and fact-based. We have to inoculate ourselves against the fake news and misinformation that infect our newsfeeds and timelines at this crucial moment by fact-checking.

For the duration of the pandemic, I will try to give you an overview of the main issues in CoronaCheck, an Australian email newsletter with the latest from around the world concerning the coronavirus.*

REMEMBER CLIVE PALMER, THE AUSTRALIAN TRUMP?

Image source:  ABC News – Nick. Haggarty

* Is this a pun on the number of his voters?

The COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #3 article already mentioned that outspoken businessman and Trump wannabee Clive Palmer donated almost 33 million doses of hydroxychloroquine — supposedly more than the equivalent of entire US stocks — to Australia’s national medical stockpile.

In a series of newspaper ads and TV interviews, Mr Palmer claimed this donation was behind Australia’s low mortality rate, which he said had fallen since the drug was made available to treat hospitalised coronavirus patients in early April.

However, Mr Palmer’s claim turns out to be baseless. The drug was already available to hospital patients before Palmer “made it available”, and experts said the death curve had flattened because just a few weeks earlier the case curve had done the same.

The jury is still out on whether the drug works as a treatment for COVID-19 since the evidence isn’t promising. Given the known risks of hydroxychloroquine, Australia’s medicines regulatory body strongly advises against giving it to coronavirus patients in the absence of positive clinical trial results.

Earlier, I noted my suspicion in a comment I made after seeing a video which pointed out that pharmaceutical giant Bayer had offered the millions of doses of chloroquine drugs for free to the US Administration but apparently were refused at that time (perhaps made on the cheap in India and not FDA approved) I deduced that Bayer needed to get rid of this bulk load and offered it to Clive for free too.

The Australian government is feeling the pressure too. Faced with an absence of positive clinical trial results, federal health minister Greg Hunt said about Clive Palmer’s donation yesterday, “he’s made a very generous offer to the national medical stockpile,” and cited two trials underway at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and the University of Queensland. Note that these trials are undertaken with healthy (no cardiac problems) health-care workers on the frontline with coronavirus to see if the drug works to prohibit infection, not to cure COVID-19 patients. The trials are expected to take 8-10 months.

 

TEST DISINFORMATION

A post shared widely on Facebook and attributed to the Department of Health claims that tests for the novel coronavirus, known as SARS-COV-2, are not able to distinguish the virus from other illnesses. As the post states “This means the test cannot [distinguish] covid from a cold or measles or ebola.”

A caption alongside the Facebook post claims the information has been taken “from [the Department of Health’s] own website”.

In a statement, a department spokesman told RMIT ABC Fact-check the post contained “selectively chosen information taken out of context” from a factsheet for clinicians, along with “complete inaccuracies”.

“The factsheet is actually dealing with COVID-19 positive people continuing to test positive after the infectious period has passed,” the spokesman said. “It is true that the PCR may still result in a positive test, because of a remaining non-infectious viral load within the patient.” But the test would not detect any pathogen other than the SARS-COV-2 virus.

 

INFODEMIC EXPOSED

Image source: Twitter/@DeepStateExpose

NewsGuard, a self-described “internet trust tool”, has published a list of Twitter “super spreaders” — accounts that “repeat, share and amplify” coronavirus misinformation and myths to large numbers of followers.

On the list of 10 are accounts of former Nigerian politician Femi Fani-Kayode, conservative radio commentator Bill Mitchell and former British footballer David Icke. All ten together reach a combined 3.3 million followers and have continued to publish misinformation despite Twitter announcing a crackdown on March 18 in a bid to address the so-called “infodemic”.

The accounts have spread myths including that COVID-19 does not exist and that zinc or herbal remedies can prevent or cure the virus, and are propagating unproven claims about the effect of 5G technology on the coronavirus.

 

NOT BILL GATES AGAIN?

Image source: Facebook

It seems, every day more misinformation about Bill Gates and his involvement in global public health is spread, with Mr Gates the alleged ‘villain’ in several convoluted coronavirus conspiracy theories.

This week, fact-checkers at India Today found that a photo of Mr Gates and top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, apparently flouting social distancing and face mask rules, was taken in December 2018, long before the coronavirus outbreak.

AP Fact-check found another claim linking the men by suggesting that Dr Fauci served on Microsoft’s board of directors, to be false.

Meanwhile, Politifact found that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is not out on making a profit from the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, and Reuters discovered that Mr Gates did not present a plan to immunise religious fanatics to the Pentagon, nor could it find any indication Mr Gates had advocated for the permanent banning of religious gatherings.

 

FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

US President Donald Trump this week claimed that he had been taking hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 preventative, prompting scorn from political adversaries including House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat.

“He’s our president, and I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and, shall we say, his weight group, [which] is morbidly obese, they say,” Ms Pelosi told CNN.

While her comments were met with glee by some, others have accused her of “fat shaming”. But was her comment accurate?

Not quite, according to fact-checkers at PolitiFact, who found that based on figures from Mr Trump’s latest physical examination he would not be considered “morbidly obese” by medical standards. Weighing in at 243 pounds (110 kilograms) and measuring 6 feet 3 inches (191 centimetres), Mr Trump just falls into the obese category; he would need to be shorter than 5 feet 8 inches (173 centimetres) and weigh 260 pounds (118 kilograms) to be classified “morbidly obese”.

Of course, some pundits have questioned the official height (elevated shoes”) and weight figures provided by Mr Trump but even Trump on a good day can’t cheat 7 inches and 17 pounds.

 

Things that don’t cure and/or prevent COVID-19

#25: A vegetarian diet

“No evidence exists to support the claim that a vegetarian lifestyle can protect someone from contracting COVID-19, a claim that has been debunked by media outlets and the Indian government.” – Snopes

 

*The facts in this article are derived from the Australian RMIT ABC Fact Check newsletters which in turn draw on their own resources and those of their colleagues within the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which RMIT ABC Fact Check is a member.

Share
 Older Entries  Newer Entries