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Posted on 05/28/2026 8:18:53 PM PDT by DoodleBob
○ 1 THE VIRUS WAS ENGINEERED IN A LABORATORY IN CHINA. Because the pathogen first emerged in Wuhan, China, President Donald Trump and others have claimed, without evidence, that it started in a lab there, and some conspiracy theorists believe it was engineered as a bioweapon.
Why It’s False: U.S. intelligence agencies have categorically denied the possibility that the virus was engineered in a lab, stating that “the Intelligence Community ... concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified.” Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli—who studies bat coronaviruses and whose lab Trump and others have suggested was the source of COVID-19—compared the pathogen’s sequence with those of other coronaviruses her team had sampled from bat caves and found that it did not match any of them. In response to calls for an independent, international investigation into how the virus originated, China has invited researchers from the World Health Organization to discuss the scope of such a mission.
Why People Believe It:People want a scapegoat for the immense suffering and economic fallout caused by COVID-19, and China—a foreign country and a competitor of the U.S.—is an easy target. Accidental lab releases of pathogens do sometimes occur, and although many scientists say this possibility is unlikely, it provides just enough legitimacy to support a narrative in which China intentionally engineered the virus to unleash it on the world.
○ 2 COVID-19 IS NO WORSE THAN THE FLU. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Trump has lied about the disease’s severity, saying it is no more dangerous than seasonal influenza. Trump himself admitted to journalist and author Bob Woodward in recorded interviews in early February and late March that he knew COVID-19 was more deadly than the flu and that he wanted to play down its severity.
Why It’s False:The precise infection fatality rate of COVID-19 is hard to measure, but epidemiologists suspect that it is far higher than that of the flu—somewhere between 0.5 and 1 percent, compared with 0.1 percent for influenza. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the latter causes roughly 12,000 to 61,000 deaths per year in the U.S. In contrast, COVID-19 had caused 200,000 deaths in the country as of mid-September. Many people also have partial immunity to the flu because of vaccination or prior infection, whereas most of the world has not yet encountered COVID-19. So no, coronavirus is not “just the flu.”
Why People Believe It:Their leaders keep saying it. In addition to his repeated false claims that COVID-19 is no worse than the flu, Trump has also said—falsely—that the numbers of deaths from COVID-19 are exaggerated. In fact, reported deaths from COVID-19 are likely an undercount.
○ 3 YOU DON’T NEED TO WEAR A MASK. Despite a strong consensus among public health authorities that masks limit transmission of coronavirus, many people (the president included) have refused to wear one. Georgia’s governor Brian Kemp went so far as to sign an executive order banning city governments from implementing mask mandates. He even sued Atlanta’s mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms when she instituted one, although he has since dropped the lawsuit. Nevertheless, as coronavirus cases spiked around the U.S. during the summer, even states that were once staunch holdouts implemented mask orders.
Why It’s False:Masks have long been known to be an effective means of what epidemiologists call source control (preventing a sick patient from spreading a disease to others). A recent analysis published in the Lancet looked at more than 170 studies and found that face masks can prevent COVID-19 infection. It has also been widely established that people can be infected with and spread COVID-19 without ever developing symptoms, which is why everyone should wear a mask to prevent asymptomatic people from spreading the virus.
Why People Believe It:Early guidance on masks from the CDC and the WHO was confusing and inconsistent, suggesting that members of the general public did not need to wear masks unless they had symptoms of an infection. The guidance was in part driven by a shortage of high-quality surgical and N95 masks, which the agencies said should be reserved for health care workers. Even though face coverings are now mandated or recommended in many states, some people refuse to wear one because they consider it emasculating or a violation of their civil liberties.
○ 4 WEALTHY ELITES ARE USING THE VIRUS TO PROFIT FROM VACCINES. In a book and in the conspiracy theory film Plandemic, Judy Mikovits, who once published a high-profile but eventually retracted study on chronic fatigue syndrome, makes the unsubstantiated claim that National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates could be using their power to profit from a COVID-19 vaccine. She also asserts without evidence that the virus came from a lab and that wearing masks “activates your own virus.” An excerpt from the film was widely shared by anti-vaxxers and the conspiracy theory group QAnon. The video was viewed more than eight million times on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram before it was taken down.
Why It’s False:There is no evidence that Fauci or Gates has benefited from the pandemic or profited from a vaccine. In fact, Fauci has sounded alarms throughout the pandemic about the risks of the virus, and Gates has a long history of philanthropy geared toward eliminating communicable diseases. Mikovits’s claims about the virus’s origin and the efficacy of masks also have no scientific support.
Why People Believe It: Wealthy or influential figures such as Gates and Fauci are often the target of conspiracy theories. Trump has at times attacked Fauci, a member of his own coronavirus task force, calling him an “alarmist.” Some of the president’s followers may find it more palatable to believe that Fauci is exaggerating the severity of the outbreak than to acknowledge the Trump administration’s failure to contain it.
○ 5 HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE IS AN EFFECTIVE TREATMENT. When a small study in France suggested the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine might be effective at treating the disease, Trump and others seized on it. The study is now widely criticized, but some people have continued to tout the medication despite growing evidence that it does not benefit COVID-19 patients. In a tweet, Trump called the hydroxychloroquine treatment “one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine,” and he has mentioned it repeatedly in his public coronavirus briefings, continuing to hype the drug. In late July he retweeted a video featuring Stella Immanuel, a Houston, Tex.–based physician (whohas made questionable assertions in the past, including that doctors had used alien DNA in treatments and that demons cause certain medical conditions by having sex with people in their dreams), claiming that hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment for COVID-19. The video was viewed tens of millions of times before social media companies took it down.
Why It’s False:Several studies have shown that hydroxychloroquine does not protect against COVID-19 in those who are exposed. The Food and Drug Administration initially issued an emergency use authorization for the drug, but the agency later warned against its use because of the risk of heart problems and ultimately revoked its authorization. And in June the National Institutes of Health halted its clinical trial of the medication, stating that although it was not harmful to patients, it did not provide any benefit.
Why People Believe It:Initial reports suggested hydroxychloroquine might be a potentially promising drug, and people are most likely to believe the first things they learn about a topic, a phenomenon called anchoring bias. And because Trump has repeatedly claimed that the drug is effective, his supporters may be more likely to believe reports that confirm their views rather than those that challenge them.
○ 6 INCREASES IN CASES ARE THE RESULT OF INCREASED TESTING. As coronavirus cases surged in the U.S., Trump frequently claimed that the spikes were merely the result of more people being tested. He has tweeted that “without testing ... we would be showing almost no cases” and has said in interviews that the reason numbers appear to have gone up is that testing has increased.
Why It’s False:If this scenario were true, one would expect the percentage of positive tests to decrease over time. But numerousanalyseshave shown the opposite. The rate of positive tests rose in many states (such as Arizona, Texas and Florida) that had big outbreaks this past summer, and it decreased in states (such as New York) that controlled their outbreaks. In addition, hospitalizations and deaths increased along with cases, providing more evidence that the national increase in positive tests reflected a true increase in cases.
Why People Believe It:There was a severe shortage of tests in the U.S. early on during the pandemic, and their availability has increased (although actual testing remains far short of what is needed). It is logical to wonder whether more cases are simply being detected—if you look only at total cases and not at the proportion of positive tests or the rates of hospitalization and death.
○ 7 HERD IMMUNITY WILL PROTECT US IF WE LET THE VIRUS SPREAD THROUGH THE POPULATION. Early on in the pandemic, some speculated that the U.K. and Sweden were planning to let the coronavirus circulate through their populations until they reached herd immunity—the point at which enough people are immune to the virus that it can no longer spread. (Both nations’ governments havedenied that this was their official strategy, but the U.K. was late to issue a full lockdown, and Sweden decided against widespread restrictions.)
Why It’s False:There is a fundamental flaw with this approach: experts estimate that roughly 60 to 70 percent of people would need to get COVID-19 for herd immunity to be possible. Given the high mortality rate of the disease, letting it infect that many people could lead to millions of deaths. That tragedy is what happened during the 1918 influenza pandemic, in which at least 50 million people are thought to have perished. The U.K.’s COVID-19 death rate is among the world’s highest. Sweden, for its part, has had significantly more deaths than neighboring countries, and its economy has suffered despite the lack of a shutdown.
Why People Believe It: They want to get back to normal life, and without a widely available COVID-19 vaccine, the only way to achieve herd immunity is to let a substantial number of people get sick. Some have speculated that we may have already achieved herd immunity, but population-based antibody studies have shown that even the hardest-hit regions are far from that threshold.
○ 8 A COVID-19 VACCINE WILL BE UNSAFE. Worrying reports have emerged that many people may refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine once it is available. Conspiracy theories about potential vaccines have circulated among anti-vaxxer groups and in viral videos. In Plandemic, Mikovits falsely claims that any COVID-19 vaccine will “kill millions” and that other vaccines have done so. Another conspiracy theory makes the ludicrous assertion that Gates has a secret plan to use vaccines to implant trackable microchips in people. Most Americans still support vaccination, but the few voices of opposition have been growing. A recent study observed that although clusters of anti-vaxxers on Facebook are smaller than pro-vaccination groups, they are more heavily interconnected with clusters of undecided people. One Gallup poll found that one in three Americans would not get a COVID-19 vaccine if it were available today and that Republicans were less likely to be vaccinated than Democrats.
Why It’s False:Vaccines save millions of lives every year. Before a vaccine is approved in the U.S., it must generally undergo three phases of clinical testing to show that it is safe and effective in a large number of people. The top COVID-19 vaccine candidates are currently being tested in large-scale trials in tens of thousands of people.
Why People Believe It:There is good reason to be cautious about the safety of any new vaccine or treatment, and the politicization of the fdaunder the Trump administration has raised legitimate concerns that any vaccine approval will be rushed. Nevertheless, previous safety trials of the top vaccine candidates did not find major adverse effects; larger trials for safety and efficacy are now underway. Nine pharmaceutical companies developing vaccines have pledged to “stand with science” and not release one unless it has been shown to be safe and effective.
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And why would we believe the gov't? Aren't they the people who told us Hunter's laptop was a ruse and that Russia was behind the dossier? Sorry, pal, but you've got a lot of work to do before you regain the trust of the American people.
SA has been nothing but hard-leftist propaganda for decades ... nothing scientific OR American about it at all ...
Well, should we trust this pile of experts?
I say, nay.
Five years on: The countries that never locked down for Covid-19.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250304-the-countries-that-never-locked-down-for-covid-19
Oddly enough there were no bodies strewn on street corners where the dead were left for collection and burning later. HOW DID THEY SURVIVE?
Can we talk about the out and out lies they told about ivermectin. That it was just horse meds?
Ivermectin, ‘Wonder drug’ from Japan: the human use perspective
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3043740/
The researcher who found it on a golf coarse got the Nobel prize for it. Ivermectin was discovered in Japan in the late 1970s through a collaboration between Japanese microbiologist Satoshi Ōmura (of Tokyo's Kitasato Institute) and the U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck.
Ivermectin was first approved for human use in 1987 so it has had a long, long history of use animals and humans.
The media self retarded themselves to spew their narrative never posted the full facts and in some cases just lied. The world health organ...was happily giving the mainland ccp chinese courtesy reach arounds as they cashed ill-gotten pay offs....
For perspective.
The Spanish flu depopulated entire towns and villages, in 1918 the Spanish Flu Killed 50 Million People. Covid maybe 7.2 million confirmed COVID-19 deaths worldwide. 'T/F'
Remember the CDC shuffle -- the motor cycle rider who's death certificate was listed at covid when it was really the sudden stop he came to and not the virus? Remember the cdc memo that said to label everyone and anyone as covid related for death reporting.
As to mainland ccp china.
Once again lets not forget the mainland ccp china bought and paid for world heath organization, miss managing and bumbling it's was through the event money grubbing as they went and saying 'oh no it's not the not from wuhan, nope not from china. No sir eeeee.
It was not a PANDEMIC it was a choreographed hand walked lie and anyone with half a brain knows it.
Main land china is a polka dot map of cancer clusters, public and private and government facilities are Tofu built. You think that's because they are thoughtful and careful?
Would like to buy my virus lab in a drum? Very clean, low millage used by a retired biology teacher very, nice very clean.../s
Remember this.
Reports of counterfeit or "fake" eggs in China have circulated for decades, often resurfacing as viral social media videos or urban legends. While documented cases of chemically-manufactured eggs existed in the early 2000s, many modern viral claims have been debunked as misidentified toy production. 'If they think they can profit from it they will do it'
Graft and stealing is part of the mainland chinese work theft ethic. If you are not cutting corners, corners are being cut on you.
The wuhan lab was it built spec with nothing fudged?? You can bet someone pocketed a bribe or two and where is one or more mainland ccp chinese you are also assured of graft.
Did the virus leak from the lab? Did the virus get out because of bad sanitation? Did somebody see fresh and tasty looking bat carcasses and sell them?
Odds are high, very high in my option that one of the above three is true or at least partially true ......
Remember sheeple your next death jab/vax is just a news report a way.
This gets little or no air play. It has been memory holed for the most part.
The frequency of "bad reactions" to COVID-19 vaccines varies significantly depending on whether you define them as common, temporary side effects or rare, serious adverse events. While up to 92% of recipients report at least one mild side effect (like injection site pain or fatigue), serious adverse events—those requiring medical care or hospitalization—occur in approximately 0.3% to 3.1% of cases.
Population of the USA 342.6 million people.
0.3% - 1027800 One hundred and two thousand, seven thousand eight hundred.
03.1% - 10620600 Ten million, six hundred and twenty thousand and six hundred.
That's quite a lot of people isn't?
Oh if you haven't noticed I haven't list what's happening with the boosters shoots, that info isn't in yet.
Cheers.
I wish I had made a list of all the FReepers who swallowed the mask BS completely. Lots of screaming. Funny, I haven’t seen one come forward to retract and apologize.
Someone, perhaps Fauci, came up with the clever idea of using a virus to steal the next election. It would force mail in voting which historically is an easy to steal elections. The plot worked. In order to maintain the coup they needed to kill the Filabuster. If not for two of the enemies Senators America would be a dictatorship today .
They weren’t there and had no idea of where it came from to this day. They are lying and volumes of information as to where, how, and why are all over the world. And most of it is still hidden.
China didn’t originally deny their involvement. Given the Chinese government’s early actions—such as suppressing information, delaying disclosure of critical data, and silencing Chinese medical professionals—skepticism toward its transparency and credibility is not entirely unfounded. This lack of transparency severely hindered an objective investigation into the origin of the virus and fueled the spread of the lab-leak or intentional manipulation hypotheses. While the first theory has greater scientific support, if critical facts were indeed concealed by the Chinese authorities, even the best-supported theory might eventually collapse. However, such skepticism must be carefully distinguished from unsubstantiated claims in order to preserve the integrity of scientific reasoning.
But one needs to look back to the forerunner virus. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory illness first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012. It is caused by the MERS-CoV virus, which originated in bats and spread to dromedary camels. While it has a high mortality rate of about 35%, human-to-human transmission is largely restricted to close contacts or healthcare settings.
Another was SARS. SARS was first recognized in Guangdong Province, China in November of 2002. It then spread extremely rapidly to other regions within China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, Taiwan, and Toronto, Canada in the early half of 2003. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) reached the United States during the global outbreak in 2003.
wy69
Jesus, they absolutely will not admit their duplicity, will they?
The first rule of hustling is NEVER GIVE UP YOUR CON
Right there with ya!
God bless
It hasn’t been Scientific nor American for quite a while.
Thanks for the post.
Right? I didn’t believe a word of the COVID propaganda and grew more suspicious as the pressure to conform increased. It first occurred to me that the pandemic was a Red ChiCom attack on Trump’s reelection in Jan 2020. The timing was just too perfect.
Every item in this article is false, and shows the corruption in the Media.
“ Why It’s False: U.S. intelligence agencies have categorically denied the possibility…”
LOL, I quit reading right there, too much humor for this early in the morning.
Democrats were pushing #8 until the election.
The article in Scientific America is a perfect example of why I dropped my subscription to this once great journal. Scientific America does not follow the science but has often become a source of scientific falsehoods.
Rest in peace Scientific America. You committed suicide.
Just a great collection of WuFlu whackadoodlery.
The article in Scientific America is a perfect example of why I dropped my subscription to this once great journal. Scientific America does not follow the science but has often become a source of scientific falsehoods.
Rest in peace Scientific America. You committed suicide.
Great stuff...now you’re thinking!
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