Polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests for COVID-19 are highly accurate. People on social media, however, are circulating lists of germs that they baselessly claim will cause such tests to be falsely positive. In reality, it’s the opposite. The lists include pathogens that have been tested by the manufacturers and did not react to the test.
Dubious websites and viral posts falsely claim that the World Health Organization changed COVID-19 testing protocols for political reasons following Joe Biden’s inauguration and admitted that false-positive cases had been inflating the case count. The WHO’s guidance merely reminded labs to follow instructions provided by each test’s manufacturer.
Our list of the 10 most egregious falsehoods of the year.
President Trump has made the misleading boast that the U.S. is in “great shape” because 97% of emergency room visits were for something other than COVID-19. Trump could have boasted of similar percentages — 93% to 96% — during the worst periods of the pandemic.
The candidates disagreed on the facts regarding the coronavirus, jobs, taxes and more.
President Donald Trump made several false, misleading and exaggerated claims in press briefings he held Aug. 7 and 8 at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
In a flurry of tweets and remarks, President Donald Trump continued to distort the facts on the coronavirus pandemic.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the over-the-top claim that if the Trump administration “had done its job, the virus wouldn’t come” to New York. Cuomo pointed to a study that suggested government officials could have better mitigated the spread of the coronavirus in New York City, but it didn’t say they could have stopped it.
President Donald Trump’s extraordinary interview with “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace, who frequently fact-checked the president in real time, contained a long list of false, misleading and unsubstantiated claims.
In a Rose Garden address to comment on a surprisingly strong May jobs report, President Donald Trump continued to repeat false, misleading and exaggerated claims about the economy, the administration’s response to COVID-19, the border wall, veterans programs and trade with China.