COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #24

 Posted by at 6:51 pm  Politics
Aug 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, but now appear only once a week.*

The COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation market seems to have dried up completely now that social media are focussing on other areas such as politics, in particular the upcoming American Presidential election. As fact-checkers have their hands full with all the disinformation spread on this subject, this may well be the last regular edition in this series.

“THE DEATH RATE IS NOT BEING OVERSTATED” REVISITED

Conspiracy theorists suggesting the COVID-19 death rate has been artificially inflated have turned to a document produced by the Western Australia Coroner’s Court as evidence of government deceit.

The document, a guide for medical practitioners completing death certificates, describes a situation in which a death can be assumed to have been caused by COVID-19, even when a person has not been tested for the disease.

“Where a person is known to have suffered typical symptoms of COVID-19, such as fevers, cough, or breathing difficulties, during a COVID-19 pandemic, but has not been formally tested or diagnosed, then it is reasonable to ‘assume’ the death was related to COVID-19 and should be recorded on the death certificate,” it reads.

The document appears to be in line with advice on the classification of COVID-19 deaths issued by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as well as international guidance provided by the World Health Organisation.

Both authorities stipulate that COVID-19 should be recorded on the death certificate of “all decedents where the disease caused, or is assumed to have caused, or contributed to death”.

In one example of a post on an anti-vaccination Facebook page which links to the WA document, a user declares: “There you go. COVID guide for medical practitioners. This is how deaths in Australia are faked as covid deaths.”

But while some Facebook users appear to view the document as a reason to lose confidence in official death statistics, the WA branch of the Australian Medical Association told Fact Check the guidance was consistent with normal practice when it came to assuming a cause of death.

“There is some assumption involved in most situations and that is reasonable,” Andrew Miller, the president of the AMA (WA), said in an email. “Where a medical practitioner cannot reasonably assume a cause of death, they consult the coroner’s office and an inquiry or inquest may result.”

According to Dr Miller, the AMA considered the circumstances described in the document as a reasonable threshold for labelling a death as having been caused by COVID-19 and were more concerned that COVID-19 deaths were being underreported rather than inflated. [emphasis mine]

Noel Woodford, the director of Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, told Fact Check that he “didn’t accept the premise” that there was an overreporting of COVID-19 deaths, and that doctors made clinical judgements “all the time” when it came to reporting causes of death.

He agreed with Dr Miller that underreporting of COVID-19 deaths was of more concern than overreporting. He noted, however, that the prevalence of COVID-19 in the community would affect how reasonable it would be for a medical practitioner to assume COVID-19 as a cause of death in the circumstances described by the document.

“If the prevalence is really low, then it’s not a reasonable assumption, because there are lots of other reasons that people could have a cough, and a fever, for instance,” he said. “But I would be surprised if a doctor wrote COVID on a death certificate without first having confirmation that COVID was in fact present, given the low prevalence of the disease in WA.”

He reiterated that cases, where a practitioner could not make a reasonable clinical assumption as to a cause of death, were referred to state coroners.

The very low number of COVID-19 deaths recorded in WA, just nine to date, would itself appear to contradict suggestions that numbers are being deliberately inflated.

 

A LESSON IN INTERNET POSTING AND MISINFORMATION FROM NEW ZEALAND

As New Zealand grapples with a new coronavirus outbreak after more than 100 days without any recorded community transmission, rumours, some of which evoke racist stereotypes, have been spreading as to the source of the outbreak.

One such rumour, since slammed during a news conference by Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, appears to have originated on Reddit when a user posted a list of dot points connecting unverified pieces of information.

The comment, which was picked up by right-wing groups who added racist remarks, suggested that a young woman had breached hotel quarantine in Auckland to visit a man who had recently arrived from Melbourne.

An interview with the man responsible for the original Reddit post, published by New Zealand journalist David Farrier, offers a fascinating look into how misinformation can quickly spiral out of control online.

The user, who fears he will lose his job over the incident, explained how he had heard rumours from friends and colleagues about an apparent breach of isolation.

“I made a poor decision to put that in writing on Reddit,” he said. “I realised a couple of hours later and removed it as much as I could, and by that stage, it had been used in screen shots.”

As noted later by the interviewer, Dylan Reeve, the Reddit user had done what many people do: “heard some rumours and ‘facts’ from a few places and put them all together”.

In this case, the initial online comment was used as the basis for a conspiracy theory rooted in racism which spread rapidly, earning a very public rebuke from the government.

According to Reuters, the New Zealand government said there was no evidence to support the theory posted online, but has not detailed an alternative explanation for the outbreak. Genomic testing is continuing.

 

GRAPHIC OF THE WEEK

With varying states of lockdown remaining in place across the country, and with Australians more aware than ever of good health and hygiene, the number of flu cases has fallen dramatically.

This graph, taken from the latest Australian Influenza Surveillance Report to be published by the Department of Health, shows laboratory-confirmed flu cases for 2020 (up to the week ending August 9) compared to previous years.

 

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

#40:

St John’s Wort
“St John’s Wort is a herbal remedy usually used as a treatment for depression. There is no evidence of it being used to treat or cure Covid-19. It can weaken the effect of life-saving medicines and cause dangerous side effects.” – Full Fact

 

*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.

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COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #23

 Posted by at 1:40 am  Politics
Aug 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, but now appear only once a week.*

The COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation market seems to be near saturation-point and fewer new debunkings are mentioned each week. Fact-checkers are now turning to other disinformation doing the rounds which aren’t pertinent to this series. Only one (Australian) story is worth mentioning, as it has been turned global by notorious conspiracy theorist David Icke.

NURSING HOMES DO NOT GET A PAID IF THEIR RESIDENTS DIE OF COVID-19

As has been reported for several weeks, Victoria had seen a surge in new cases which has led to a nearly full lockdown for the greater Melbourne area for six weeks.

The virus is particularly rampant aged-care homes, and the death toll in these homes is staggering by Australian norms. Australia had a total of 361 deaths to date, so a daily death rate above 14, with the highest at 19, is shocking. About 70% of these deaths are in aged care.

A post shared widely on Facebook claims that a caller to Sydney FM radio station The Edge told how his friend’s 79-year-old father, who was suffering terminal cancer, had his cause of death wrongly listed as COVID-19. This was supposedly for the nursing home in which he died to receive a payment from the Federal Government.

“The Australian govt is handing out $25,000 to all nursing homes who label covid as the main cause of deaths on death certificates,” the post states.

In another anecdote detailed in the post, a family was supposedly offered $9,000 by a nursing home to have their relative’s cause of death listed as COVID-19.

The post attracted the attention of former English footballer David Icke, who shared it on his website and also to his 350,000+ Twitter followers.

A spokeswoman for The Edge confirmed to Fact-check that such a call did take place on the morning of August 7, but that the caller claimed the $25,000 payment would be made to the family for funeral costs, rather than to the nursing home as suggested in the Facebook post.

“During the two-minute call, the hosts of the breakfast program were clearly surprised by the information that the caller provided, and were openly skeptical about its veracity,” the spokeswoman said. “One host referred to it as sounding like a conspiracy theory, also adding that he wouldn’t take the caller’s word on it.” She added that to avoid generating, disseminating or promoting misinformation the audio of the call was “not repeated on the station’s online, podcast or social media assets”.

In any case, there is no evidence that either the information provided by the caller or posted to Facebook are factual.

In an email, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health told Fact-check that “the comments made in the Facebook post are false”. Furthermore, “Australians are encouraged to rely on reputable and authoritative sources of information to help them make informed choices and stay up to date.

In a later email, a spokesman added that the department was not aware of any payment for funeral costs made to families of deceased COVID-19 victims.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services said that any payments to bereaved families or nursing homes would have to come from the Federal Government.

Sean Rooney, the CEO of Leading Age Services Australia (LASA), which is the national peak body representing all providers of age services across residential care, home care and retirement living, told Fact-check that aged care homes were “not being provided with payments for people who pass away with COVID-19”.

In an email, he said: “The comments that have been shared [on Facebook] are false and we encourage all people to rely on credible sources, such as the Department of Health and Leading Age Services Australia” and added that LASA was not aware of any disputes arising from the listing of cases of  COVID-19 in aged care.

 

GRAPHICS OF THE WEEK

In a series of maps and graphs, news website Vox has depicted the extent of the COVID-19 outbreak across the US.

This map shows the percentage of tests returning positive in each state. In states such as Florida and Texas, more than 15 per cent of tests are returning positive results for COVID-19. By comparison, the positive test rate since January 22 in Victoria is 0.8 per cent.

Compared to some other countries in the world, the positive rate of the US is also striking.

 

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

#39: Vinegar
“There is no evidence that eating, drinking or washing with vinegar does anything to stop Covid-19.” – Full Fact

 

*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.

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COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #22

 Posted by at 3:10 am  Politics
Aug 072020
 

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, but now appear only once a week.*

COULD VICTORIA’S PREMIER BE JAILED FOR PREVENTING THE USE OF HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE?

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews

As has been reported in edition # 20 that Victoria had seen a surge in new cases which only has worsened over the past weeks and now has forced its Labor Party Premier Daniel Andrews to have the capital Melbourne in full lockdown again and the rest of the state under close restrictions too after the previous measures didn’t show to have little effect on the ever-increasing number of infections.

The Premier now has come under attack by the Liberal opposition because of the failure of previous restrictions and imposing even stricter lockdown rules with strong detrimental effects on the Victorian economy.

Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly has suggested that Daniel Andrews could be jailed for blocking the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 during a Facebook posting spree that saw him promote the drug more than 30 times this week.

In a post that has since been edited (see posts above and below), Mr Kelly questioned whether the Premier could be jailed for up to 25 years for “continuing to ban hydroxychloroquine” under recently-introduced Victorian workplace laws, which include the crime of “workplace manslaughter”.


Image: Mr Kelly’s original Facebook post (supplied)

“With the current international evidence available, continuing to ban this drug is negligent, it falls below the standard of care that would be taken by a reasonable person — and creates a high risk or death,” Mr Kelly wrote, continuing with “Every officeholder in Victoria that continues to ban the use of Hydroxychloroquine, could be risking 25 years in jail under the state’s new laws” referring to the limitations the Therapeutic Goods Administration placed in March on the use of hydroxychloroquine and its recommendation against its use for treating COVID-19 outside of clinical trials.

The text of the post has since been updated to remove any reference to Mr Andrews, stating instead that “continuing to deny the right of medical professionals prescribing this drug to a patient” arguably constitutes conduct that in some states “has criminal penalties that carries [sic] severe penalties of up to 25 years’ imprisonment for individuals”.

“Given the limited evidence for effect against COVID-19, as well as the risk of significant adverse effects, the TGA strongly discourages the use of hydroxychloroquine outside of its current indications at this time other than in a clinical trial setting or in a controlled environment in the treatment of severely ill patients in hospital.”

Image: Mr Kelly’s edited Facebook post

Slater & Gordon industrial and employment principal lawyer Carita Kazakoff told Fact-check there was “zero chance” of Mr Andrews being charged with manslaughter as a result of any decision to ban or limit the use of hydroxychloroquine.

“Workplace manslaughter laws are designed to ensure that employers and organisations who exercise control over a workplace ensure the safety of those in that workplace,” she said in an email.
“While it’s conceivable that the Premier could be a ‘duty holder’ under the Act in relation to a workplace where he supervises or manages people, it is not relevant to the context Craig Kelly has described.”

In the meantime, the World Health Organisation and Melbourne’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity have discontinued their trials of the drug as a COVID-19 treatment as evidence mounts that it is ineffective.

When questioned by reporters about Mr Kelly’s posts, (Liberal) Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he would not “get onto what people talk about on Facebook” and asked Acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly to comment on the use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19.

“In terms of its use for this particular disease… it doesn’t work,” Professor Kelly said.

As was mentioned in edition #3, Trump wannabe and millionaire Clive Palmer had purchased 32,900,000 doses of hydroxychloroquine and made it known in several large newspaper advertisements that he’s donating them towards Australia’s fight against COVID-19. No pressure there.

 

FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

In a sit-down interview with news website Axios, posted on Politics Plus in It Is What It Is!

US President Donald Trump was grilled by Australian journalist Jonathan Swan on his administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 150,000 Americans.

Fact-checkers at PolitiFact have run the rule over the interview checking 22 claims made by the President. They concluded: “Trump’s comments contained a mix of half-truths, missing context and outright falsehoods.”

To begin with, PolitFact found to be misleading Mr Trump’s assertion that, even before the coronavirus outbreak, China had suffered its “worst year” in 67 years, given that 67 years ago the country was on the cusp of a famine which killed as many as 45 million people.

The fact-checkers also found Mr Trump’s claim that 12,000 people had attended his rally in Tulsa to be a doubling of the real count of 6,000.

And on coronavirus in the US, PolitiFact said it was “incorrect” for Mr Trump to say the US had a high case count because of a greater number of tests. What mattered, the fact-checkers said, was the proportion of tests returning a positive result.

“If more tests are being conducted and more of them are coming back positive, that means that the virus is spreading beyond just the increase in testing,” they said. “In June, the share of positive tests climbed. While it has levelled off and eased a bit, it is still more than three percentage points higher than in the spring.”

On COVID-19 deaths, of which the US has suffered the highest number in the world, the fact-checkers found Mr Trump was incorrect when claiming that fatalities were falling.

“On the day before the Trump interview [on July 28], the 7-day average death toll nationally had been climbing for weeks, according to the Covid Tracking Project. It stood at 1,004. A week before that, it had been about 800. A week before that, it had been about 700.”

 

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

#38: Eating rasam or curry
“There is no scientific evidence that rasam or curry protects from the virus.” – 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.

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COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #21

 Posted by at 3:33 am  Politics
Jul 312020
 

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, but now appear only once a week.*

CLIVE PALMER’S COMPARES COVID-19 WITH HEPATITIS B

Mr Palmer has launched legal action against the West Australian Government’s border closure. (AAP: Jono Searle)

Remember Trump wannabe, mining magnate and former federal MP Clive Palmer from COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #3 and COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #9? This millionaire with political ambitions shares many characteristics with the American president, one of which is working very hard at his personal advancement at the cost of others.

In May, Mr Palmer was denied entry to the state after the McGowan Government shut Western Australia’s borders the previous month to all but those deemed essential travellers. He had wanted to come to WA for a series of business and political meetings but WA police commissioner Chris Dawson did not grant him an exemption to enter the state.

Mr Palmer then lodged a writ against the decision in the High Court, claiming closing the WA border was an unconstitutional “act of stupidity”.  As his case against WA’s coronavirus border closures headed to the Federal Court this week, Mr Palmer took to social media to attack WA Premier Mark McGowan.

“Mark ‘The Menace’ McGowan knows the mortality rate for West Australians hasn’t increased because of COVID-19 yet he continues to mislead the people of WA for political grandstanding,” Mr Palmer, who is currently facing fraud charges over his 2013 election campaign, said.
This must sound terribly familiar to PP readers.

“There are other highly contagious viruses, for example Hepatitis B, which result in thousands of deaths every year. COVID-19 has claimed very few lives in WA, yet has led to unprecedented border closures and devastation to the economy.”

However, the comparison of COVID-19 to hepatitis B is not valid.

  • The blood-borne disease does not cause thousands of deaths every year, at least not in Australia. According to the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, there were an estimated 435 deaths attributable to chronic hepatitis B in Australia in 2018. Additionally, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says acute hepatitis B was responsible for 279 deaths in Australia between 1997 and 2016.
  • Josh Davis, a senior principal research fellow at the Menzies School of Health Research and former president of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases, told Fact Check that comparing deaths from hepatitis B and COVID-19 was “ridiculous” because the two diseases spread in very different ways, with hepatitis spread through blood and other bodily fluids (through sexual contact, mother to child transmission or shared injecting equipment) rather than via respiratory droplets as in the case of COVID-19.
  • “It’s completely safe to hug, kiss, share food etc with an HBV-infected person,” Professor Davis said in an email. “State borders are completely irrelevant.”
  • Hepatitis B causes a low-grade infection over decades and that around 80 per cent of people do not end up with health problems as a result of the infection.
  • “The only thing [hepatitis B and COVID-19] have in common is that they are both caused by viruses. But the viruses are no more closely genetically related to each other than a human is to a fish.”
  • And most importantly, there’s a vaccine for hepatitis B, first introduced in 1983. Australian year 7 students have been immunised for the disease since 1998, while newborn babies have received the vaccine since 2000.

Mr Palmer did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

 

MADONNA’S INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT FLAGGED FOR SPREADING MISINFORMATION

Popstar Madonna has been censured by Instagram after sharing a video about a coronavirus conspiracy theory to her 15 million followers. The singer claimed In her post that a vaccine for Covid-19 had already been found but was being hidden to “let the rich get richer”.

Instagram blurred out the video with a caption saying: “False Information” and directed users to a page debunking the claims in the video, noting there is no coronavirus vaccine.

The video in question showed a group called America’s Frontline Doctors speaking outside the US Supreme Court building at an event organised by Tea Party Patriots Action.

In the clip, Dr Stella Immanuel, a doctor from Houston, said she had successfully treated 350 coronavirus patients “and counting” with hydroxychloroquine.

The video was later deleted from Madonna’s Instagram page, but not before fans protested at her decision to share the post.

 

FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

By the time Madonna posted the video on Instagram of a group of doctors claiming during a press conference in Washington that hydroxychloroquine, zinc and a drug known as Zithromax can cure COVID-19, it had gone viral, with US President Donald Trump retweeting it multiple times.

Fact Check has found that the video has been shared dozens of times in Australian Facebook groups popular with conspiracy theorists, despite attempts by social media platforms to remove the video.

According to PolitiFact, the cure claims made by one doctor in the clip, Stella Immanuel, are false, and there is no known cure for COVID-19. “In spite of Immanuel’s anecdotal evidence, hydroxychloroquine alone or in combination with other drugs is not a proven treatment (or cure) for COVID-19,” the fact-checkers concluded. “While some studies have found that the drug could help alleviate symptoms associated with COVID-19, the research is not conclusive.”

Meanwhile, The Washington Post found that Dr Immanuel was no stranger to making outlandish declarations, once claiming that gynaecological conditions such as endometriosis, infertility, miscarriages and STIs are caused by “sex with demons that takes place in dreams” and are ‘evil deposits from the spirit husband’.

In short, the lady is a quack and yet is someone Trump calls ‘impressive’.

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

#37: Steroids used in asthma inhalers
“There is no evidence on benefits or harms of inhaled steroids in COVID-19.” – European Respiratory Journal

 

*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.

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COVID-19 Fact and Fiction #20

 Posted by at 1:54 am  Politics
Jul 242020
 

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, but now appear only once a week.*

As I’ve mentioned last week, Melbourne, Victoria, had seen a surge in new cases which has worsened over the past week. This outbreak has brought the coronavirus back in the political arena, setting up states with either left-wing Labor or right-wing Liberal/National Coalition governments against each other in their attempt to deal with the spread of the virus beyond Victoria’s borders.

RMIT ABC Fact Check has dedicated most of this week’s coronavirus fact-checking to Australia. They’ve focussed in particular on the Black Lives Matter protest’s supposed links to a surge in coronavirus cases in Victoria because of the court hearing over a protest planned for Sydney next week, and the renewed media coverage of a similar rally held in Melbourne back in June.

I’ve posted the whole section dedicated to this topic, with annotations where Australian matters needed to be explained both for the sake of clarity and because similar reports are coming in from the US but have added my own pictures.

EXPLAINING THE BLACK LIVES MATTER ‘LINKS’ TO MELBOURNE’S CORONAVIRUS SURGE

Suggestions of a link between a Black Lives Matter rally held in Melbourne on June 6 and an outbreak of coronavirus cases in public housing towers continue to spread, with NSW (Liberal/National Coalition government) Police Commissioner Mick Fuller this week adding fuel to the fire.


Speaking on Sydney radio station 2GB before a court hearing on a Black Lives Matter protest planned for Sydney next week, Commissioner Fuller said that based on “some pretty good intelligence out of Victoria” he knew “how dangerous these protests can be in terms of health”.

“From our perspective it was obviously big numbers in Victoria (Labor government), a number of people who came to the protest were living in those vertical towers* so that certainly is enough for me.”

But in a statement to the ABC last week, the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) said that of the six protesters who subsequently tested positive to COVID-19, none were known to live in a “major public housing complex”*.

Commissioner Fuller’s remarks come in the wake of a report in The Australian (major right-wing newspaper) that Victorian health authorities had “confirmed a link between two COVID-19 cases in people who attended the Black Lives Matter protest and the cluster of at least 242 cases in public housing towers in the city’s inner northwest”.

“While the confirmation stops short of establishing the protest as a cause of the public housing megacluster, it demonstrates clear links between the mass gathering, attendees who tested positive, and the state’s largest COVID-19 cluster to date,” The Australian said.

According to the report, two Northland H&M employees who tested positive for COVID-19 attended the protests. These workers formed part of a larger cluster of coronavirus cases initially named as the H&M cluster but later reclassified as the North Melbourne family cluster.

It is the North Melbourne family cluster which the DHHS said was linked to the outbreak in the North Melbourne housing tower.

“Cases linked to the North Melbourne towers have links to other cases across Melbourne, including the North Melbourne family outbreak,” The Australian quotes a DHHS spokesman as saying.

“It is not clear which direction the virus was transmitted in. In many cases, we will never know for sure how large clusters began and the order in which the virus spread.”

The Australian’s report prompted former Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy to suggest Fact-check issue a correction on a past CoronaCheck newsletter, published in June, which queried the evidence for assertions about links between the protests and the surge in cases.

“[The DHHS] continues to report that the current burst of cases does not stem from the rally,” Fact-check said at the time.

“They have said that while one protester “may have been infectious at the rally”, two others who have since tested positive for COVID-19 were not infectious at the rally, nor is there evidence they contracted the virus at the rally.”

The DHHS statement last week maintains that there is “no evidence to suggest” any person contracted COVID-19 at the protest.

The report in The Australian, as well as similar reports from other news sites, were shared widely, including by Senator Pauline Hanson (leader of right-wing populist One Nation party), Victorian federal Liberal MP Jason Wood and Avi Yemini, a far-right figure with 115,000 Twitter followers.

Fact-check found no evidence that a follow up report from The Australian, which clarified that the DHHS said there was no evidence that the six protesters who had tested positive for COVID-19 had acquired the virus at the rally, was shared by Senator Hanson or Mr Wood. Mr Yemini dismissed the report in a tweet.

 

* “Those vertical towers” or “major public housing complex” refer to several large high-rise buildings which were put in total lockdown after an outbreak of COVID-19 was reported there. These buildings house people with low income, a large diversity of cultural backgrounds and many with immigrant/asylum-seeker status.

OUTDATED ADVICE MASKING THE FACTS

The surge in coronavirus cases in Victoria has led its government to announce that face coverings would be mandatory for residents of lockdown areas but commentators and social media activists are using out-of-date advice on the use of masks to peddle misinformation on mask use.
In a document published over three months ago, the World Health Organisation stated that “the wide use of masks by healthy people in the community setting is not supported by current evidence”. This advice was the reason for Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt to question whether there was any medical basis to the decision to make masks mandatory.

However, new advice published by the organisation in June, says that masks should be worn by the general population where there is widespread community transmission or where physical distancing cannot be adhered to, such as on public transport or in “specific working conditions”.

Speaking to Seven News, infectious diseases physician and microbiologist Peter Collignon said there was enough community spread in Melbourne to justify mandatory masks. “Whenever you’ve got a lot of community transmission — and Melbourne seems to be in that situation at the moment — wearing masks makes a difference,” Professor Collignon said.

Nevertheless, Facebook groups popular with conspiracy theorists have used misinterpreted Federal Government advice, as well as months-old news reports, to advocate against mandatory mask-wearing.

FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

When he resumed his regular coronavirus press briefing, President Trump also tried to blame Black Lives Matter protests for the coronavirus surge.

“There are likely a number of causes for the spike in infections,” he said. “Cases started to rise among young Americans shortly after demonstrations, which you know very well about, which presumably triggered a broader relaxation of mitigation efforts nationwide.”

The data suggests that they weren’t. According to the Washington Post, a working paper released last month by the National Bureau of Economic Research found “no evidence that urban protests reignited COVID-19 case growth during the more than three weeks following protest onset.” Nor are the states where cases surged the most ones in which the largest protests occurred.

The Guardian took it one step further and noted that “Public health experts say there is little evidence that the protests spread Covid-19 in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Washington or other cities. They took place outdoors, where the virus spreads less easily, and most participants wore face masks, which Trump has conceded is an effective preventive measure.”

“Dhaval Dave, the lead author of a study at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, told the Associated Press that in many cities, the protests [ironicallyP seemed to lead to a net increase in physical distancing, as more people who did not protest decided to stay off the streets.”

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

#36: Burning Sage
“Though burning some plants has been scientifically shown to eliminate airborne bacterium, there is inconclusive evidence to suggest that burning sage – or “smudging” – is capable of purifying the air in confined spaces.” – 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.

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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

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Open Thread – 1/12/2020

 Posted by at 7:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 122020
 

It’s a queasy/busy day here in the CatBox.  I managed to keep the last three very small meals down, but not without discomfort.  It’s also another High Holy Day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb.  WWWendy and I shall be meditating between chores.  Good luck to both Pat and Nameless.  Please don’t fight, you two.  Have a great Sunday.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:49 (average 5:38).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Back in those days, even the Democrats were Republican misogynists!

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Daily Kos Channel): Rep. Steve King blames Democrats and George Soros for his racism on the floor of the House

 

There’s one and only one reason people accuse Steve King [R-KKK] of racism on the floor of the House. The son of a bitch (apologies to dawgs) is a damn Republican racist!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (Elizabeth Warren Channel): Elizabeth Warren: No One Should Go Bankrupt Over Medical Problems

 

Nobody has to tell me how medical mayhem can drive a formerly prosperous person to economic distraction. Liz could not be more spot-on!  RESIST!!

From CNN: Australia’s beleaguered prime minister, Scott Morrison, has admitted there were things he “could have handled much better” in the bushfire crisis and will propose a royal commission into the disaster.

The prime minister has been heavily criticized for his tone-deaf interactions with fire-ravaged communities and inaction over climate change.

From what I have surmised, based on comments from Aussies, the biggest mistake was made by Morrison’s father. He should have worn a condom.  Kudos to the firefighters from Oregon and all over the world helping to fight the fires there.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Paul Revere & The Raiders – Indian Reservation HQ Sound

 

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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Open Thread – 12/30/2019

 Posted by at 8:44 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 302019
 

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox, and the year is almost over.  How much I have for the rest of the week will depend on two factors: my health and the availability of good material.  Oh God it’s Monday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:28 (average 6:39).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Religious Ecstasy:

1229Broncos16-Raiders15

What a wild finish, with ballsy moves by both teams.  It’s a pity that someone had to lose.

Fantasy Football Report:

Here’s the final report of the season from our own fantasy football league.

17Playoffs

Congrats to Vivian, WWWendy, and Patty Monster for winning their games.

Kudos to Vivian, me, and WWWendy for taking the first, second, and third place trophies.  I’ll be in touch with our players in late spring/early summer with reminders for what we need to do for next season.  In the meantime, we desperately need one or three more players for next season.  Colleen?  Pat?  Anyone?  Please?

Thank you all for a great season.  We had a blast!

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Parody Project Channel): 24 MONTHS OF TRUMP’S MESS (2017-18) – a New Year Parody

 

Thanks Don. Frankly, I thing that border wall is a great idea. Build it around Trump*, Bought Bitch Moscow Mitch, pseudo-Christian Pence, Faux Noise, and more!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (NBC News Channel): Australians Flee Devastating Wildfires As Thousands Of Koalas Feared Dead

 

Tears and prayers for our Aussie friends.  This is the cost of ignoring climate change!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Abraham. Martin, John & Bobby

 

This one still brings profound sadness. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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