Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [covid-19]

For questions regarding the coronavirus disease and its causes called COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO say the disease is caused by a virus that is itself called SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) but also known as the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, 2019-nCov, the Wuhan Coronavirus and "the Corona virus".

For more information about the outbreak see Wikipedia. For more information about the naming, see the WHO Technical Guidance.

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Do surgical masks help prevent the spread of COVID-19 from infected members of the public?

One of the most politicised scientific issues of 2020 was the question about whether face-masks stop the spread of COVID-19. Here are some specific examples: Australian Department of Health (generalised to "masks") Mayo Clinic Science Daily Tweet…
Oddthinking
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Are bodies stored in vacant rooms at Detroit hospital?

On April 15, 2020 (today at the moment of writing this question) WIS news posted an article titled "GRAPHIC: Bodies stored in vacant rooms at Detroit hospital overwhelmed by coronavirus". (News originally came from CNN, it looks like). In that…
Vanity Slug - codidact.com
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Does a surgical mask help prevent catching COVID-19?

According to the Mayo clinic: "The current recommendations regarding masks are that if you yourself are sick with fever and cough, you can wear a surgical mask to prevent transmission to other people. If you are healthy, there is not thought to be…
JonathanReez
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Did Dr. Fauci say that face masks don't work against COVID-19?

For a while, I've been a bit bothered by claims that Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to the US President, explicitly claimed that face masks don't work to stop the spread of COVID-19. For example, political commentator Kyle Kulinksi said on…
user1999728
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Does taking ivermectin reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection by 83%?

I came across a study that makes the following claim (emphasis mine): Two doses (300 μg/kg/dose in a gap of 72 hours) of ivermectin chemoprophylaxis reduced COVID-19 infection by 83% among HCWs for one month. Ivermectin is a safe and effective…
John
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Did the WHO have evidence of significant human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 prior to January 14, 2020?

On January 5th 2020, the World Health Organisation published a "Disease Outbreak News" article about a disease that was later to be called COVID-19. It states: Based on the preliminary information from the Chinese investigation team, no evidence…
einpoklum
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Did China shut down a port for one COVID-19 case and did this closure have a bigger impact than the blocking of the Suez canal?

Journalist Fabian Kretschmer claimed in a DW interview (at 1m56): For every case you have to shut down a factory, you have to shut down a port. In May, for example, they had to shut down the Yantian port near Shenzen, and that was basically the…
Fizz
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Have over 1 million people in the US been tested for the coronavirus as of March 30th?

President Donald Trump touted a new coronavirus test that produces results in minutes as opposed to days and announced Monday that more than 1 million Americans have been tested for the disease. “The numbers have been incredible on testing,” Trump…
Daniel R Hicks
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Did COVID-19 come to Italy months before the pandemic was declared?

A November 2020 Reuters article suggests that COVID-19 reached Italy earlier than the official first case, based on a study done by the Italian National Cancer Institute. The new coronavirus was circulating in Italy in September 2019, a study by…
DeadAndAliveCat
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Is Huang Yanling (a Wuhan virology researcher) the world's first COVID-19 patient?

The Jerusalem Post wrote in Jan 2021 A prominent scientist from the city of Wuhan in China, who has received the title "the world's first COVID-19 patient," has been missing for a year now. According to various reports, Huang Yanling was the first…
Fizz
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Does the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine destroy natural immunity in children?

A September 2022 article in The Daily Sceptic discusses a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine about the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on children between 5 and 11 years old. A new study published in the New England…
Aaargh Zombies
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Is there an unusual distribution of adverse events by lot number for the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines?

This article which has been making rounds on social media for some time, insinuates that something nefarious is going on with the COVID-19 vaccines. It tries to prove this with the VAERS database by showing that some lots (of Spikevax and Comirnaty)…
Nobody moving away from SE
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Do COVID-19 vaccinations during early pregnancy lead to a higher miscarriage rate?

Steve Kirsch claims in Should you get vaccinated?: 82% miscarriage rate in first 20 weeks (10% is the normal rate). Is this claim that the miscarriage rate is significantly increased through COVID-19 vaccinations backed up by data or bogus?
Christian
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Did Sweden experience lower all-cause mortality during the pandemic?

Sections of the Australian media have been claiming recently that Sweden experienced lower excess deaths during the pandemic years compared with other countries, including Australia. The implication is that Australia was wrong to impose lockdowns…
Bug Catcher Nakata
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Does this study from 2012 speak to the potential long term effects of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines?

A paper has been shared various social media sites (for example, on a 4chan /sci/ thread) as "proof" the COVID vaccine results in long term negative outcomes by increasing rates of autoimmune issues: Immunization with SARS coronavirus vaccines leads…
Good Ol' Saint Nick
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