COVID-19 / Coronavirus: Disinformation, Fake News & Scams

[maximus otter]

We are past the stage of “potential mission creep” when the government instructs you to stay at home unless you can provide a satisfactory (to them) excuse for going out; when police set up border checkpoints to establish your reasons for crossing from Wales into England; when people are harassed and fined for exercising in the street; when police send up camera drones to observe hikers on the hills, and handcuff 73-year old women for taking senile old ladies out of Petri dishes OAPs’ homes.

All this for a disease which kills a small fraction of one per cent, at average age 82 years.

What will Mirror/Mail readers be prepared to accept if something serious happens?

maximus otter

@Schrodinger’s Zebra, you’re back!



maximus otter

 

[Schrodinger's Zebra]

@Schrodinger’s Zebra, you’re back!



maximus otter

'ow do.

 

[maximus otter]

'ow do.

maximus otter

 

[EnolaGaia]

Scammers and data thieves have been operating fake COVID testing stations in multiple US states ...

Watch Out for Fake COVID-19 Testing Sites

Don’t fall for the fake drive-through coronavirus testing sites that have been cropping up in recent weeks. Yes, that’s right—according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), scammers are dressing up like medical professionals and conducting fake, unsanitary tests for money and identity theft, while possibly spreading the virus.

Per the FTC:

The fake sites can look real, with legitimate-looking signs, tents, hazmat suits, and realistic-looking tests... In addition to running off with innocent people’s information, these destinations are causing health-related issues. They aren’t following sanitation protocols, so they can spread the virus. Worst of all, they’re not giving people the help they need to stay healthy.

Reports about such sites have emerged in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, New York, and Washington state, per AARP. Typically they charge cash ($240 in one instance) for this bogus test, and they’ll try to steal your social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and credit card information for identity theft purposes, as well. ...

FULL STORY: https://twocents.lifehacker.com/watch-out-for-fake-covid-19-testing-sites-1845786035

 

[EnolaGaia]

This week's Associated Press 'Not Real News' disinfo debunking column includes 2 COVID-related items, both of which are debunked.

NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

Nevada doctor’s selfie used to claim COVID-19 is a hoax

CLAIM: Photo of a doctor standing in front of empty hospital beds at a Reno, Nevada, auxiliary care site for COVID-19 patients proves that the coronavirus pandemic is a hoax. ...

Ultracold temperatures protect the potency of COVID-19 vaccine

CLAIM: Any vaccine that needs to be shipped and stored at -80 degrees “isn’t a vaccine” but a “transfection agent” that will infect your cells and transfer genetic material causing “genetic manipulation” on a massive scale. ...

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/election...demics-media-936d8ee22ac946ac5c78417b8b07a026

 

[EnolaGaia]

Newly published research investigated why COVID-19 misinformation is so difficult to block or eradicate in social media.

What makes COVID misinformation so tough to stop on social media

A recent study highlights two of the reasons that misinformation about COVID-19 is so difficult to tackle on social media: most people think they're above average at spotting misinformation; and misinformation often triggers negative emotions that resonate with people. The findings may help communicators share accurate information more effectively. ...

For this study, researchers conducted a survey of 1,793 U.S. adults. The survey asked a range of questions designed to address four issues: the extent to which study participants felt they and others were affected by COVID misinformation online; the extent to which misinformation triggered negative emotions; their support for government restrictions on social media and misinformation; and their support for media literacy training and other corrective actions.

One of the most powerful findings was that study participants overwhelmingly thought that other people were more vulnerable to misinformation. This phenomenon is known as the "third-person effect," which predicts that people perceive media messages as having a greater effect on others than on themselves. ...

The researchers also found that content containing misinformation was likely to evoke negative emotions such as fear, worry and disgust. That's troubling for two reasons.

"First, people are likely to act on content that evokes negative emotions, and that includes sharing information on social media ..." "Second, messages that are focused on emotions are more easily transmitted on social media than content that is neutral - such as abstract scientific information."

FULL STORY: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-12/ncsu-wmc120720.php

 

[EnolaGaia]

This week's Associated Press 'Not Real News' disinfo debunking column includes 4 COVID-related items, all of which are debunked.

No evidence that COVID-19 vaccine results in sterilization

CLAIM: The head of research at Pfizer says the COVID-19 vaccine causes female sterilization because it contains a spike protein known as syncytin-1.
-------------------
No evidence ivermectin is a miracle drug against COVID-19

CLAIM: The antiparasitic drug ivermectin “has a miraculous effectiveness that obliterates” the transmission of COVID-19 and will prevent people from getting sick.
-------------------
First to get COVID-19 vaccine in UK were not ‘crisis actors’

CLAIM: The first two recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine in Britain are “crisis actors.” The image of the first person who was vaccinated on Dec. 8 was published in October, long before the vaccine was approved. The same nurse was photographed administering the vaccine to two people, in two locations 20 miles apart.
-------------------
Posts falsely claim COVID-19 virus has not yet been isolated

CLAIM: Scientists have not isolated the COVID-19 virus, so a vaccine is not possible.
-------------------

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/ap-fact-...social-media-39efdb570c6e58bd99fbc5ae7f27dc05

 

[GerdaWordyer]

This week's Associated Press 'Not Real News' disinfo debunking column includes 4 COVID-related items, all of which are debunked.

No evidence that COVID-19 vaccine results in sterilization

CLAIM: The head of research at Pfizer says the COVID-19 vaccine causes female sterilization because it contains a spike protein known as syncytin-1.
-------------------
No evidence ivermectin is a miracle drug against COVID-19

CLAIM: The antiparasitic drug ivermectin “has a miraculous effectiveness that obliterates” the transmission of COVID-19 and will prevent people from getting sick.
-------------------
First to get COVID-19 vaccine in UK were not ‘crisis actors’

CLAIM: The first two recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine in Britain are “crisis actors.” The image of the first person who was vaccinated on Dec. 8 was published in October, long before the vaccine was approved. The same nurse was photographed administering the vaccine to two people, in two locations 20 miles apart.
-------------------
Posts falsely claim COVID-19 virus has not yet been isolated

CLAIM: Scientists have not isolated the COVID-19 virus, so a vaccine is not possible.
-------------------

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/ap-fact-...social-media-39efdb570c6e58bd99fbc5ae7f27dc05

Oh crap. Who doesn't want this crisis over. Eventually, we could with co-operation and precautions, so we mask, distance, and don't go out frequently. We'd be as safe as New Zealand. Then we get some vaccines and all the good behavior and good results face the challenges of anti vaxers. There's a special place in Hell waiting for Andrew Wakefield. What a butthead.

 

[EnolaGaia]

This new AP piece lists the 5 most persistent myths about COVID-19 and debunks each one in turn ...

Debunked COVID-19 myths survive online, despite facts

From speculation that the coronavirus was created in a lab to hoax cures, an overwhelming amount of false information clung to COVID-19 as it circled the globe in 2020.

Public health officials, fact checkers and doctors tried to quash hundreds of rumors in myriad ways. But misinformation around the pandemic has endured as vexingly as the virus itself. And with the U.S., U.K. and Canada rolling out vaccinations this month, many falsehoods are seeing a resurgence online.

A look at five stubborn myths around COVID-19 that were shared this year and continue to travel: ...

MYTH: MASKS DON’T OFFER PROTECTION FROM THE VIRUS ...
MYTH: THE VIRUS WAS MAN-MADE ...
MYTH: COVID-19 IS SIMILAR TO THE FLU ...
MYTH: OFFICIALS ARE EXAGGERATING COVID-19’S TOLL ...
MYTH: THE VIRUS IS A PLOY TO FORCE GLOBAL VACCINATIONS ...

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/debunked-coronavirus-myths-survive-212dfb8acbf8c759e869f8b391724873

 

[Spudrick68]

It won't stop the Covidiots believing shit is sugar unfortunately.

 

[EnolaGaia]

This week's Associated Press 'Not Real News' disinfo debunking column includes 2 COVID-related items, both of which are debunked.

No, a Tennessee nurse didn’t die after getting the vaccine

CLAIM: Tiffany Dover, a nurse manager in Chattanooga, Tennessee, who fainted after receiving her first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, is now dead.
-------------------------

Doctor who vaccinated Pelosi didn’t leave cap on syringe

CLAIM: Photos of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi getting the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine show that the doctor never removed the orange cap from the syringe, so she never actually received the shot.
-------------------------

SOURCE: https://apnews.com/article/ap-fact-...ic-tennessee-ffe8cfe9ad30f2f8e9e3d5e72d41cba2

 

[Trevp666]

Okay, so who can tell me what this graph represents, how many of it, and over what time period?
Bonus points for identifying what the items shown represent too.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Okay, so who can tell me what this graph represents, how many of it, and over what time period?
Bonus points for identifying what the items shown represent too.
View attachment 33205

It's the waves of lockdowns vs the rise/fall of the Covid infections...right?

 

[Analogue Boy]

Okay, so who can tell me what this graph represents, how many of it, and over what time period?
Bonus points for identifying what the items shown represent too.
View attachment 33205

I think the first one is National Velvet, the second is Hansel and Gretel and the third is Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

 

[Naughty_Felid]

Okay, so who can tell me what this graph represents, how many of it, and over what time period?
Bonus points for identifying what the items shown represent too.
View attachment 33205

It's the Australian model for male success

Point 1 excel at sport, education, and erm flower arranging.

Point 2 meet a Sheila, move into a place.

Point 3 fire up the barbie, have a beer, and then... go for a ride on a rollercoaster.

Pretty straight forward really.

 

[Cochise]

Okay, so who can tell me what this graph represents, how many of it, and over what time period?
Bonus points for identifying what the items shown represent too.
View attachment 33205

Orange = no restrictions
Blue = restrictions.
Between s=1 and Point 1 - full lockdown.
Point 1 - allowed outdoors, universities/senior schools open, exercise, gardening.
Point 2 - shops etc. open, all schools open.
Point 3 - normal life resumes. pubs open, barbies, mass entertainments. Presumably residual advisory restrictions indicated by the blue area going on forever. (Which, if they are advice like washing hands, is fair enough)

S= rate of infection = the top of the shaded area. (Similar to UK's R rate?) Don't know why the black line stops where it does

Not guaranteed to be 100% but I think I'm pretty close

 

[Trevp666]

All good guesses, but with no values along either the 'Y' axis or the 'x' axis, it's impossible to ascribe any quantities or times to any of it, no?

 

[Cochise]

All good guesses, but with no values along either the 'Y' axis or the 'x' axis, it's impossible to ascribe any quantities or times to any of it, no?

Well, I guess it's a model to which one enters figures as they come along. The thing really missing is how S is calculated. You'd have a spreadsheet or program that you entered a whole lot of variables in and it would calculate S based on an algorithm. Time scale would be determined by the speed with which the rising part of the curve was approximately matched.

If that is the case and the model was developed in advance of the figures it's quite a good idea. You could see, as the value of S progressed, whether your guess about it's behaviour matches reality. If a radically different curve is produced you got it wrong.

The actual presentation of the model is in the line of typical modern data presentation which seems to basically assume the audience is illiterate.

 

[Trevp666]

I shall reveal all.......later.....
Let's give it a chance for some other.....er.....'input'....

 

[EnolaGaia]

This week's Associated Press 'Not Real News' disinfo debunking column includes 1 COVID-related item.

Posts misrepresent study examining household coronavirus transmission

CLAIM: University of Florida researchers found “no asymptomatic or presymptomatic spread of Covid” in a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

THE FACTS: Social media users are misrepresenting a recent study, leading to the spread of misinformation about COVID-19. A false post that was shared on Dec. 27 reads: “University of Florida researchers have found no asymptomatic or presymptomatic spread of Covid. The study was published online by the Journal of the American Medical Association. This could change everything.” The post had amassed more than 35,000 retweets a day later, and was also shared widely on Facebook. Social media users shared the false post to justify arguments that shutting down businesses and schools during the pandemic was unnecessary. But a spokesperson for the network of journals published by the Journal of the American Medical Association confirmed to The Associated Press that no study with such conclusions had been published by the network. ...

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/election...social-media-592bd95b6bc87df6b001196b2f90b123

 

[ramonmercado]

A particularly nasty incident.

A fraudster claiming to work for the NHS injected a 92-year-old woman with a fake Covid-19 vaccine, City of London Police has said.

Detectives are hunting the man who charged the victim in Surbiton, south-west London, £160. Police said it was "crucial" he was caught as soon as possible as he "may endanger people's lives". Det Insp Kevin Ives described it as a "disgusting and totally unacceptable assault".

It comes after the NHS warned people that no-one should be turning up at doorsteps offering a vaccine for payment, following a spate of fake text messages. ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-55577426

 

[Stormkhan]

How many times can people be told of a scam ... and they still bloody fall for it?
Yeah, yeah, I know; they target the elderly and the vulnerable but even so, this doesn't excuse all the sad pictures on "chat" magazines of young people saying "I was promised a life of luxury ... and all I got was a post card."
My beef is ... how was the 92-year-old woman left so approachable by crooks?

 

[Swifty]

This below text is a cut and paste job posted on facebook by someone I know who plays the guitar and sings in bars around
Cromer. He's posted this without any explanation that he's cut and pasted it from someone else, no "I read this and felt you all need to know this man's truth!" .. nothing .. his post just starts like this, the scaremongering twat:


NEW UPDATE BELOW!

(Original post: Just FYI I shouldn’t have got this stupid thing I feel like absolute shit. So does everyone else I work with that got it

my body feel like I have the flu, my joints hurt and keep having burning sensations, I’m exhausted, I can’t lift my arm, I’m having tingling and numbness in my toes and fingers, I have a headache, my body is burning up but i don’t have a fever, my ears are hurting and I keep having dizzy spells, I keep having heart palpitations, but you know who won’t pay for any time off if we get sick from this vaccine? The place making us get it so I guess I’ll suck it up)

Update: Everyone has been asking for an update so I figured this was easiest! First I want to say I appreciate everyone’s concerns and comments! Secondly I want to say this post was made not to bash the vaccine or people choosing to get the vaccine. This post was made to inform people of MY experience with the vaccine. So here’s an update:
I ran a 102-103 fever for about 4 days, severe pain and tenderness in the injection site, I had congestion, nausea, pain in my joints and random sharp burning pains all over, muscle spasms, numbness in my fingers and toes, dizzy spells, heart palpitations, headache, and fatigue. On day 5 after getting the shot everything eased up minus the headache, sinus pain, and congestion. With the congestion came sneezing and coughing up bloody mucus because my sinuses were so irritated. And yes I reported all of this to VAERS. I called my doctor, he put me on some antibiotics, which I’m on day 3 of and I’m feeling much better!
Many people asked me if the shot was cold going in. No, for me it wasn’t. For some people I work with it was though which makes me wonder if the majority of us that got sick from the vaccine not being the right temperature of maybe that had something to do with it? Who knows. I do know some of the people I work with who got the shot have had really bad reactions to the vaccine in the injection site. Some even now a week later have severe swelling with a hot red circle around it. I personally didn’t have that although my arm was sore and weak for about 5 days.
One last thing, I live in Arkansas, which is a right to work state and I work in health care. Although the vaccine is not mandatory or required by law, in Arkansas an employer can legally fire you for not taking the covid vaccine. It sucks but it is what it is. My previous employer went about this vaccine so wrong in many ways, I was left with an ultimatum to get the vaccine or not be able to pay my bills coming up at the beginning of the month. So I did what I thought I had to.








Swifty:
Erm .. you don't live in Arkansas Warren? .. you live in Cromer

Warren:
no I don’t but I got this information from a pro vaccine group and if I put all the bad reactions people are having it would take me a week why are you a virologist or do you have any phds my close friend is a top virologist so I think you need to do more research yourself

https://www.facebook.com/profile.ph...ULbBdwub5MjZprMz3xKdiS3mG_Ph1zxFI&__tn__=R]-R

Swifty:
And the name of your 'top' friend virologist is? .. where did he/she study and what qualifications did this person achieve and in what sphere of their studies do they specialise and in which country? .. is your top virologist friend a member or in charge of the pro vaccine group you've mentioned and what is the name and contact details of this group? ..
Can anyone reading this thread (especially you Warren because you're the person who started it) tell me the name of this man from Arkansas so I can research him to see if he even exists please?

 

[Gene Hunt73]

My sister posts shit like this relentlessly, eg: (Security fences being put up outside St Thomas hospital after hoards of drunken bums turned up on NYE chanting Covid is a lie wanting to take pictures of A+E!) They are putting up fences outside hospitals, what are they hiding!

After challenging her with live stream footage of the mob. She accuses me of being brainwashed, then blocked me!

She's into Q, 5g, fake birds the lot despite the NHS saving her life a couple of years ago after a brain hemorrhage.

Nowt queer as folk.

 

[Swifty]

My sister posts shit like this relentlessly, eg: (Security fences being put up outside St Thomas hospital after hoards of drunken bums turned up on NYE chanting Covid is a lie wanting to take pictures of A+E!) They are putting up fences outside hospitals, what are they hiding!

After challenging her with live stream footage of the mob. She accuses me of being brainwashed, then blocked me!

She's into Q, 5g, fake birds the lot despite the NHS saving her life a couple of years ago after a brain hemorrhage.

Nowt queer as folk.

And as Warren's unnamed man from Arkansas has written "I’m exhausted, I can’t lift my arm", are we to assume that he used the arm he could lift to type out all of his above troubles?.

 

[Gene Hunt73]

A selection of screenshots from my sisters FB page.
I used to think she was the intelligent sibling.

 

[EnolaGaia]

This week's Associated Press 'Not Real News' disinfo debunking column includes 1 COVID-related item.

No evidence COVID-19 vaccines lead to autoimmune disease

CLAIM: COVID-19 vaccines that rely on messenger RNA technology will teach the body to attack itself, leading to autoimmune disease.

THE FACTS: There is no evidence that the so-called messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna cause autoimmune disease. In a 12-minute video that has been viewed more than 350,000 times on Facebook, a nurse practitioner warns people against getting the COVID-19 vaccines based on mRNA technology, falsely claiming that it will teach the body to attack itself and lead to autoimmune disease. Tamika Morrow, a registered nurse practitioner in Michigan who posted the video to Facebook Dec. 16, provides a faulty account of how the mRNA vaccines work. ...

https://apnews.com/article/election...ctions-media-1dc11c4372a6f54c7322d9de83727434

 

[Trevp666]

And the name of your 'top' friend virologist is?

Let's guess at.....Joshua Silverman, with a PHD in epidemiology from the University of Madeupname

Or Bubba.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Let's guess at.....Joshua Silverman, with a PHD in epidemiology from the University of Madeupname

The CEO of ETSY?

 

[Trevp666]

Really? Moonlighting huh?