A quiet first night for fact-checkers. Only a few quibbles, including on the minimum wage, mail-in voting and Social Security payments.
Democratic Convention Opening Night
Issues: coronavirus
Biden’s Greatest Hits
A compendium of the top false and misleading claims by the Democratic presidential candidate.
Mailbag: COVID-19 Vaccination Distribution
A reader sent us a comment about our article on distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. The article reviewed the Trump administration’s distribution plans.
Face Masks Don’t Cause Legionnaires’ Disease
A viral social media post is spreading the falsehood that wearing a face mask to slow the spread of COVID-19 could cause Legionnaires’ disease. But Legionnaires’ disease is caused by bacteria that festers mostly in warm, standing water, not in human saliva.
Trump’s Missteps on COVID-19 Mortality
President Donald Trump exaggerated Americans’ comparative success battling the coronavirus, falsely saying in a press briefing that the U.S. per capita death rate is lower than “most” of Western Europe. He also claimed a 9% decrease in COVID-19 fatalities over the past week, but the data do not show such a decline.
FactChecking Trump’s Weekend Press Briefings
President Donald Trump made several false, misleading and exaggerated claims in press briefings he held Aug. 7 and 8 at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Dueling Trump, Biden Claims on COVID-19 Vaccination Distribution
President Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, have made competing claims about the administration’s plans to distribute COVID-19 vaccines. We look at the planning to date.
Trump Ad Features Edited, Out-of-Context Biden Photos
President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has released an ad that features edited and out-of-context photos to illustrate Joe Biden “hiding” in his basement rather than taking questions from reporters on the campaign trail.
Asthma Medicine Not Proven as COVID-19 ‘Cure’
A viral headline on Facebook claims that a vaccine isn’t “Needed” for COVID-19 because “There Is Already A Cure.” But the supposed “cure” is an asthma medication, touted by a Texas doctor, that has not yet been proven in clinical trials as an effective treatment for COVID-19 — though researchers are exploring its efficacy.
Trump’s Misleading COVID-19 Comparisons to Other Countries
In a flurry of tweets and remarks, President Donald Trump continued to distort the facts on the coronavirus pandemic.