April 3, 2020

PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, click here.

Happy Friday! It is Friday … right?

Are the days running together like they are for me? Regardless, I find myself wondering about the public health response COVID-19 every day.

President Donald Trump voiced disbelief at the skyrocketing demand for protective masks at New York hospitals.

“Are they going out the back door? How do you go from 10,000 to 300,000?” Trump asked at a March 29 press conference. “And we have that in a lot of different places. So, somebody should probably look into that, because I just don’t see, from a practical standpoint, how that’s possible to go from that to that.”

The head of the Greater New York Hospital Association, Kenneth Raske, shot back that hospital workers “deserve better than their president suggesting that (personal protection equipment) is ‘going out the back door’ of New York hospitals.”

PolitiFact explains why the exponential increase in need for masks makes sense.

Should you take ibuprofen for your fever?

Many posts have said ibuprofen could make COVID-19 worse. But scientists say there is no evidence that definitively backs that up. Check with your doctor and watch the fact-check»

COVID-19 in the air for 8 hours?

This claim isn’t true. There is no evidence that the virus stays in the air for eight hours. Get the facts»

5 Fact-Checks About the 2019 Coronavirus

We’re past International Fact-Checking Day, but these top five fact-checks from the Teen Fact-Checking Network will be relevant for a while. Check it out»

A coronavirus vaccine on the way? Not yet

Trump has not announced a vaccine to prevent COVID-19. As of now, there is no specific treatment for the coronavirus. Here’s the fact-check»

Alex Mahadevan is a senior multimedia reporter at MediaWise. He can be reached at amahadevan@poynter.org or on Twitter at @AlexMahadevan. Follow MediaWise on TikTok.

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Alex Mahadevan is director of MediaWise, Poynter’s digital media literacy project that teaches people of all ages how to spot misinformation online. As director, Alex…
Alex Mahadevan

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