The second most popular post on Reddit’s r/all on March 18 2020 illustrated incongruent coronavirus pandemic directives, one day after a sobering report about COVID-19 measures drew worldwide attention.
Images circulated of United States President Donald Trump crossing out the “corona” in “coronavirus,” and writing “Chinese” in its place.
On March 17 2020, Imperial College London’s coronavirus response modeling report came to the attention of the broader public — which is why you’re suddenly seeing it everywhere.
Novel coronavirus strain COVID-19 prompted a rumor that a “St. Corona” was the patron saint of epidemics — but that’s not exactly the case.
A screenshot of a Facebook status update advises Americans economically affected by the coronavirus pandemic to dial 866-211-9966 for assistance from the United Way.
Rumors circulating via text message, on social media, and through Google Docs (as well as other vectors) contain a claim that a four-week-long quarantine will go into effect for all Americans at the beginning of April 2020 — but that remains completely unsubstantiated.
Pet warnings are always popular, and COVID-19’s link to hand sanitizer made sure that a claim that it was fatal to animals spread far and wide..
Amazon is only planning to suspend its receipt of shipments from third-party merchants, but that part of a viral story was hidden behind a paywall.
Although the USDA confirmed that it was empowered to broaden access to food for WIC recipients during the coronavirus pandemic, we couldn’t verify WIC-approved restrictions were actually relaxed.
Dueling viral Facebook posts are presenting the same story, but from different ends of the American political continuum.
