Did Time Magazine select the frontline medical workers during the coronavirus pandemic as the person of the year? No, that's not true: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were announced as Time's person of the year on December 10, 2020.
The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) where it was published on December 7, 2020 with the caption:
For once it's not a celeb! Well job Time magazine...well done!
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Fri Dec 11 15:20:16 2020 UTC)
Time announced the person of the year on December 10, 2020, but this Facebook post was made on December 7, 2020, making it impossible for the Facebook user to know whether or not the healthcare workers secured the title of person of the year.
Frontline healthcare workers were finalists for the award, however.
The Biden-Harris ticket was joined by Donald Trump, the "movement for racial justice" as well as Frontline Health Care Workers and Dr. Anthony Fauci on the shortlist for person of the year.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are TIME's 2020 Person of the Year #TIMEPOY https://t.co/o97QNlSBrl pic.twitter.com/KuoBoebBN4
-- TIME (@TIME) December 11, 2020
Fake Time Magazine covers are the stuff of viral falsehoods. Find more Lead Stories reports on them here.
