Was New York state Assembly Bill A99, sponsored by Assemblyman Nick Perry, drawn up to take advantage of the pandemic, with the purported aim of allowing state officials to remove infected residents -- namely children -- from their homes and keep them in detention facilities indefinitely? And is the pandemic "fake" and is COVID-19 made-up? No, none of that is…

Did the governor of Mississippi sign an executive order abolishing statewide mask requirements? No, that's not true: The "formal letter" announcing the alleged order is fake, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and a spokesperson for the governor. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published by Facebook on September 26, 2020. The post appeared alongside text that…

Is COVID-19 the most highly survivable virus? No, that's not true: Chickenpox and Epstein-Barr (mononucleosis) are widespread and rarely lethal. Effective vaccines make those and lethal viruses like rabies and smallpox almost 100% survivable in the U.S. Meanwhile, the novel coronavirus killed 200,000 Americans and 972,000 worldwide by Sept. 23, 2020. The claim originated in a Facebook post (archived here)…

Does the appearance of the number 33 in a collection of news reports about COVID-19 cases represent anything that needs explaining? No. COVID-19 cases have been counted and reported around the world for hundreds of days. There is nothing remarkable about a search engine finding instances of any specific number of cases reported in the news, including the number 33.…

Did Joe Biden completely botch the Pledge of Allegiance during a campaign speech? No, that's not true and the comments were taken out of context. GOP rapid response director Steve Guest claimed that Biden "completely botches" the pledge during a campaign speech in a tweet that went viral. The Democratic nominee for president was criticizing Donald Trump and saying he…

Is it true that the government is about to approve an Emeryville, California company's implantable "chip" that will create "transhumans" and allow government to spy on our health and other data? No, that is not true. The sensor awaiting government approval would not track people's movements, listen in on calls, read emails, nor record search histories. Rather, it would measure…

Have no Social Security checks been delivered by the U.S. Postal Service since 2013 because of security issues with the U.S. mail? No, that's not true. While nearly 99% of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits are electronically transfered to people's bank accounts each month, 1.2% of benefits -- or 850,000 checks -- are still mailed every month. The…

Did Nevada 'quietly reverse' its decision to 'block' hydroxychloroquine prescriptions for COVID-19? No, that's not true: The emergency regulation simply expired. Also, although the order did put some limits on hydroxychloroquine, it did not prohibit prescriptions of the drug outright. It remained available to COVID-19 patients in hospitals and emergency rooms in Nevada. The claim appeared in a post (archived…

Has South Carolina (or some other state) issued 723,855 (or some other number) active warrants for unemployment fraud? No, that's not true: There is a joke-hoax trend circulating on social media since late July and the information in these posts should not be taken seriously. People with concerns about the situation in their respective state should look for information from…

Does Bill Gates have a doctorate degree in immunology, virology and toxicology? No, that's not true: Gates dropped out of college to start Microsoft and does not have a conventional degree. He does, however, have honorary degrees in medicine and law. Through the $47 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he funds projects in immunology, virology and toxicology. The claim…

Is it true that COVID-19 is not a pandemic? No, That's not true: The rapid global spread of COVID-19 fits both the dictionary definition of pandemic and has also ticked enough of the boxes necessary for global and national public health officials to declare it a pandemic. The claim was made in a broadcast by opinion columnist Alan Jones Sept.…

Are vaccines available to prevent COVID-19 as of September 18, 2020? No, that's not true: Although the race is on to find a safe and effective vaccine, none has been approved for use in the U.S. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook on September 15, 2020. Under the headline "COVID PARENT WARNING ALERT," the post told…

Did CNN demand that Kayleigh McEnany resign as White House press secretary for "perpetuating the lies" of President Trump to the media over COVID-19 health risks? No, that is not true. CNN did not author a piece demanding she step down; it was written by political analyst and former Clinton Press Secretary Joe Lockhart with a clear disclaimer that the…

Did a scientific study prove the Chinese government cooked up the novel coronavirus and loosed it on the world? No, that's not true: The claim is made in a self-published article produced by doctors who identify themselves as part of a political organization that specializes in embarrassing the Chinese Communist Party, is run by a man facing mail fraud charges…

Do the World Health Organization (WHO) and Queen Elizabeth II want to remove children from COVID-infected homes? No, that's not true: That is a made-up claim that stems from two videos. The first is a snippet of a March 30, 2020, press conference with Dr. Michael Ryan of the WHO where he briefly mentions that it would be advantageous to…

Has the widely-used PCR test for COVID-19 returned false positive results, exaggerating the number of Americans infected? No, that's not true: The test accurately determines whether patients' nasal swabs show infection. But anti-quarantine-and-mask activists, who did none of their own reporting, have misused the results of a reporter's recent analysis of testing: it shows many who are infected may not…

Did a math mistake by America's most visible pandemic fighter panic U.S. leaders into imposing strict quarantines? No, that's not true: A published claim by a Kremlin-controlled propaganda website offers no evidence that a statistic known as "case fatality rate" drove mayors and governors to order quarantines. At least one governor, Jay Inslee of Washington, focused on an entirely different…

Did Canada on Sept. 8, 2020, criminalize government measures that require the wearing of masks, as well as social distancing, vaccinations, and other protective measures that help thwart the spread of COVID-19? No, that is not true. The national government has made no such declaration. The claim refers to a made-up "Republic of Kanata" that claims to trump the powers…

Is there an "irrefutable paper trail" that shows COVID-19 was manufactured in a laboratory? No, that's not true: Screenshots taken from the rapid-fire display of documents in the video making that claim show only that a number of scientists have in the past worried that lab tests on a coronavirus could lead to an outbreak, that the U.S. Centers for…

Is Ohio setting up FEMA camps to separate children from parents during the COVID-19 outbreak? No, that's not true. Gov. Mike DeWine shot down the claims that the state would be forcing parents with coronavirus and children to be split up and put into FEMA camps, calling the rumors "garbage" and "ridiculous." The claim appeared in an article published by…