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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Can vaccinating for COVID-19 cause a selection pressure for more virulent strains?

The steelman of an argument I've seen floating among some critical members of society is as follows: Since COVID-19 vaccines are applied as a prophylactic (reducing symptoms although people may still be infected), or in any other way leaky, we are…
digitalheir
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Do most locations have an infection fatality rate less than 0.20% from Covid-19 (and less than 0.05% for those under 70 y.o.)?

This is the (tentative) conclusion of a meta-analysis found on the WHO's website, written by John Ioannidis, which in its abstract says: Across 51 locations, the median COVID-19 infection fatality rate was 0.27% (corrected 0.23%). [...] In people…
Fizz
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Were 70 COVID-19 testing sites destroyed during the George Floyd protests?

Dr. Deborah Birx, President Trump’s coronavirus response coordinator, warned the nation’s governors on a conference call that 70 coronavirus testing sites had been destroyed amid widespread protests in the wake of the death of George…
Sean Duggan
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Did Europe have a Covid-19 case in December 2019?

CNN reports that a Frenchman named Amirouche Hammar had Covid-19 in December in Paris. This was supposedly discovered after old samples were re-checked for the Covid-19 virus. Alas there's hardly any detail in that news report besides the fact that…
Fizz
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Did health authorities receive a significant number of calls about the use of disinfectants (or drinking bleach) after president Trump mentioned it?

Fox News reported on one hand that public health agencies (in Los Angeles and Maryland) were "inundated" with calls about "drinking bleach" after Trump discussed disinfectants in re Covid-19, but a few seconds later they cast doubt on those reports…
Fizz
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Is there a correlation between vaccination levels and new COVID-19 cases?

In the study Increases in COVID-19 are unrelated to levels of vaccination across 68 countries and 2947 counties in the United States, it is claimed that there is no relation between vaccination and increase in COVID-19 cases. Already in the title it…
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Did three researchers (connected to "gain of function" work) at the Wuhan Institute of Virology fall ill with Covid-19 symptoms in Nov 2019?

Vanity Fair and other news sources have cited multiple unnamed sources from within the US State Department claiming that three Wuhan Institute of Virology researchers supposedly in engaged in "gain of function" studies had fallen ill in November…
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Do the COVID-19 vaccines have worse side-effects for people who have already contracted COVID-19?

A March 16 KFYR-TV article [hat-tip @Laurel] reports: In a study posted by medRxiv (med archive), researchers report many people who had previously been infected with the virus reported flu-like symptoms after their first dose. [...] New findings…
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Do elements of the genetic code of SARS-CoV-2 provide evidence that SARS-CoV-2 originated in a lab?

The website Rootclaim, which uses Bayesian analysis to estimate the probabilities of various hypotheses about news events, claims to have ascertained that with high (approximately 75% probability), SARS-CoV-2 was produced by gain-of-function…
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Does flu vaccine make us more vulnerable to COVID-19?

There are some claims that the flu vaccine injection has a positive correlation with COVID-19 death rate. For example, the anti-vax site Home Vaccine Education Network says: What connects the countries of Belgium, Peru, the UK, Spain, Italy, Chile,…
user36020
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Is hydroxychloroquine + zinc + antibiotics an effective treatment for COVID-19?

It's often claimed, for example, in this Spectrum News report that a drug combination of hydroxychloroquine and zinc and antibiotics is an effective early treatment for COVID-19. Researchers at NYU's Grossman School of Medicine found patients given…
user17561
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Is wearing facemasks the reason South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong have more control of Covid-19

There is a graph being shared around on the internet that implies that the reason that South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong have better control of Covid-19 is that the people wear masks as a protective measure. Is this actual cause / effect…
user1605665
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Can heat cure COVID-19, the common flu and the common cold?

The following video is quickly making rounds via social media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-011iO4esA The video claims Dr. Dan Lee Dimke has found that raising the temperature of the sinuses to 56°C (133°F) for 15 minutes is an effective cure…
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Did Covid vaccines massively increase excess death in Australia in 2022?

From the Infowars article 5162% INCREASE IN EXCESS DEATH! Australian Government Data Shows MASS Vaccine Death Toll Josh Sigurdson reports on the massive increase in excess death in Australia and throughout the world as more and more studies come…
TheAsh
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Have there been no deaths due to omicron in Africa?

According to a widely-shared tweet (and also picked up by Townhall) (emphasis added): Serious question since I'm not a dr. If omicron is contagious but not deadly (25,000 cases in Africa with no deaths) why try and control it? Why not let it go and…
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