Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here.

Daily Debunk

Claim: COVID-19 is only dangerous for older people.

Verdict: False

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data showing 47% of all COVID-19 hospitalizations were for those aged 20 to 54.

Read the full story at: Poynter.org

Social Media Disinfo

Circulating on social media:

The US constructed the virus; the Pentagon did it; the ruling elites... On the one hand, pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets claim that the outbreak is a hoax. On the other, they indulge apocalyptic scenarios, suggesting that due to the pandemic the Schengen system has collapsed, NATO will dissolve, the EU is paralyzed, the Baltic states are doomed, there are no doctors in Lithuania, and Ukraine is in free fall. The entire project of "globalization" is over! The coronavirus is the EU's Chernobyl. But then the whiplash comes again: The virus is not dangerous at all. It can be cured with saline in four days, what's the problem?

Verdict: False

Read the full story: Disinformation Can Kill -- EU vs DiSiNFO

Factual Reads on Coronavirus

UK has enough intensive care units for coronavirus, expert predicts

UK deaths from the disease are now unlikely to exceed 20,000, [Imperial College London epidemiologist Neil Ferguson] said, and could be much lower.

-- NewScientist (UK), March 25

Hispanics more likely than Americans overall to see coronavirus as a major threat to health and finances

The spread of the coronavirus has the potential to hit many of the nation's nearly 60 million Latinos particularly hard.

-- Pew Research Center, March 24