More than once, President Donald Trump has falsely claimed that the federal stockpile of emergency medicine and supplies he inherited from his predecessor was an “empty shelf.”
Trump Falsely Claims He Inherited ‘Empty’ Stockpile
Locations: National
Video Misconstrues Pelosi Tweet on ‘un-American Travel Ban’
A viral video makes the bogus claim that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Jan. 31 tweet criticized the Trump administration’s restriction on travelers from China to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Her tweet was unrelated to those travel restrictions.
April Fool’s Posts Falsely Claim Students Must Repeat the School Year
April Fool’s Day brought a spate of false posts claiming students will have to repeat the school year. While many schools across the U.S. closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, there’s no indication they’ll call for repeating the school year.
Biden’s False Claim on Trump’s Response to Coronavirus
Former Vice President Joe Biden was wrong when he said that the Trump administration made no effort to get U.S. medical experts into China as the novel coronavirus epidemic spread there early this year.
Trump’s Spin on ‘Broken’ Testing
While his administration has faced criticism for being slow to ramp up testing for coronavirus infections, President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that the problem was with his predecessors, saying the administration “inherited a broken system” that it “rebuilt.” That’s misleading.
Union’s Search for Face Masks Gets Twisted Online
A meme falsely claims that a health care workers’ union was “caught hiding 39 million N95 masks,” and other posts cast suspicion on the union’s motives. In reality, the union had called medical suppliers nationwide in an effort to find masks — and it never had or hid them.
Trump and the Coronavirus Death Projections
In his March 30 appearance on “Fox & Friends,” President Donald Trump suggested an estimate that the novel coronavirus might kill a huge number of Americans was a new revelation.
Birx Spins ‘Extraordinarily Low Numbers’ of Coronavirus Cases
Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, misleadingly claimed that 19 states — “almost 40% of the country” — “have less than 200 cases” of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. In fact, 17 states with 7.2% of the U.S. population have fewer than 200 confirmed cases each.
Trump’s Premature Claim about Ventilator Production
In a March 21 press briefing, President Donald Trump prematurely declared that automakers, including Ford and General Motors, were manufacturing much needed ventilators “right now.”
Meme Misleads on Hospital Visits to Children With COVID-19
A viral meme suggests that children hospitalized with COVID-19 in the U.S. and U.K. can’t be visited by a parent. Hospital policies have become generally more restrictive, but pediatric patients are still allowed visits by at least one parent.