Isolated

Did scientists fraudulently claim that they had isolated and sequenced viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19? No, that's not true: The SARS-CoV-2 virus has been independently isolated and sequenced by multiple scientists around the world since January 7, 2020. Claims that the virus has never been isolated have circulated since vaccines for COVID-19 were introduced in early 2020, including in…

Does this compilation of video clips provide evidence of a race of shape-shifting reptilian beings who live among us? No, that's not true: This collection of videos shows an assortment of interesting video artifacts with a variety of explanations, but a shape-shifting reptilian humanoid life form is not one of them. The individuals appearing in the clips are normal people.…

Did travel restrictions for unvaccinated individuals in Australia make it impossible for the omicron variant to enter the country? No, that's not true: Unvaccinated individuals can enter the country by following the guidelines of the state where they arrive. They can leave the country by applying for a travel exemption. Vaccinated Australians -- who could travel freely before the emergence…

Is humanity being held hostage by a new world order pushing COVID-19 vaccines? No, that's not true: The video in this Facebook post recycles previously debunked claims about COVID and plays into the rhetoric of an elaborate QAnon story of a cabal of blood-drinking elites working for global dominion. The claims appear in a post (archived here) on November 16,…

Has the "Emergency Broadcast System" been activated? No, that's not true: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) confirmed to Lead Stories that the Emergency Alert System (EAS) has not been activated. If it had been, the protocol would be that the president of the United States would address the nation within 10 minutes of a national emergency. This has not…

Is SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, "not a truly isolated human virus" because it was only replicated in monkey cell lines? No, that's not true: While the origin of the virus is hypothesized to be from an animal, the virus was isolated from human patients soon after its emergence in humans. SARS-CoV-2 replication in human cell lines has…

Does a video posted to Facebook show a rigged digital voting machine used in Middletown Township, New Jersey, during the state's general election in 2021? There is no evidence to suggest that it does: While there were reports of touch screens occasionally locking up on digital voting equipment in New Jersey during the election, those machines are set up to…

Do COVID-19 vaccines approved in the United States contain hydrogel nanobots that multiply, rewrite human genetics and erase and plant memories in human brains? No, that's not true nor even possible in 2021. No private or academic lab has laid claim to the ability to make a robot that could pass through a COVID vaccine hypodermic needle carrying the kind…

Is the Illinois governor making vaccine mandates without any proof of the delta variant of the coronavirus? No, that's not true: This claim is a recycled version of similar deceptive claims made in Ireland, where COVID denialists requested lab materials from the wrong office, got a letter saying the agency had no samples, and used that letter to declare no…

Did Spain's high court confirm that COVID-19 does not exist? No, that's not true: The Spanish Ministry of Health was not taken to court, there was no hearing and the "proof" offered is an informational reply letter the government issued to the public to answer a question from a COVID-denier group. The government agency does NOT say that the virus…