What's that saying--"A lie will make it around the world before the truth even makes it off the starting line". Doesn't matter now what the truth is--the tin-foil crowds will run with the earlier reports and claim government cover-ups, black helicopters ferrying corpses away, etc.
Yeah well we had quite a discussion about the spread of what I considered to be obvious unsourced unsubstantiated rumor in the immidiate aftermath of Katrina. Unfortunately, I would have to say the skeptical posters were outnumbered by those believing in cannibalism and child gang rape by a substantial margin.