The world is dealing with an unprecedented health crisis caused by a new virus. With new insights in the way COVID19 spreads, in the way the virus behaves and in the way to deal with the pandemic every day, it is now more important than ever to safeguard the information we share is accurate and fact-based. We have to inoculate ourselves against the fake news and misinformation that infect our newsfeeds and timelines at this crucial moment by fact-checking.

For the duration of the pandemic, I will try to give you an overview of the main issues in CoronaCheck, an Australian email newsletter with the latest from around the world concerning the coronavirus, but now appear only once a week.*

The COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation market seems to be near saturation-point and fewer new debunkings are mentioned each week. Fact-checkers are now turning to other disinformation doing the rounds which aren’t pertinent to this series. Only one (Australian) story is worth mentioning, as it has been turned global by notorious conspiracy theorist David Icke.

NURSING HOMES DO NOT GET A PAID IF THEIR RESIDENTS DIE OF COVID-19

As has been reported for several weeks, Victoria had seen a surge in new cases which has led to a nearly full lockdown for the greater Melbourne area for six weeks.

The virus is particularly rampant aged-care homes, and the death toll in these homes is staggering by Australian norms. Australia had a total of 361 deaths to date, so a daily death rate above 14, with the highest at 19, is shocking. About 70% of these deaths are in aged care.

A post shared widely on Facebook claims that a caller to Sydney FM radio station The Edge told how his friend’s 79-year-old father, who was suffering terminal cancer, had his cause of death wrongly listed as COVID-19. This was supposedly for the nursing home in which he died to receive a payment from the Federal Government.

“The Australian govt is handing out $25,000 to all nursing homes who label covid as the main cause of deaths on death certificates,” the post states.

In another anecdote detailed in the post, a family was supposedly offered $9,000 by a nursing home to have their relative’s cause of death listed as COVID-19.

The post attracted the attention of former English footballer David Icke, who shared it on his website and also to his 350,000+ Twitter followers.

A spokeswoman for The Edge confirmed to Fact-check that such a call did take place on the morning of August 7, but that the caller claimed the $25,000 payment would be made to the family for funeral costs, rather than to the nursing home as suggested in the Facebook post.

“During the two-minute call, the hosts of the breakfast program were clearly surprised by the information that the caller provided, and were openly skeptical about its veracity,” the spokeswoman said. “One host referred to it as sounding like a conspiracy theory, also adding that he wouldn’t take the caller’s word on it.” She added that to avoid generating, disseminating or promoting misinformation the audio of the call was “not repeated on the station’s online, podcast or social media assets”.

In any case, there is no evidence that either the information provided by the caller or posted to Facebook are factual.

In an email, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health told Fact-check that “the comments made in the Facebook post are false”. Furthermore, “Australians are encouraged to rely on reputable and authoritative sources of information to help them make informed choices and stay up to date.

In a later email, a spokesman added that the department was not aware of any payment for funeral costs made to families of deceased COVID-19 victims.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services said that any payments to bereaved families or nursing homes would have to come from the Federal Government.

Sean Rooney, the CEO of Leading Age Services Australia (LASA), which is the national peak body representing all providers of age services across residential care, home care and retirement living, told Fact-check that aged care homes were “not being provided with payments for people who pass away with COVID-19”.

In an email, he said: “The comments that have been shared [on Facebook] are false and we encourage all people to rely on credible sources, such as the Department of Health and Leading Age Services Australia” and added that LASA was not aware of any disputes arising from the listing of cases of  COVID-19 in aged care.

GRAPHICS OF THE WEEK

In a series of maps and graphs, news website Vox has depicted the extent of the COVID-19 outbreak across the US.

This map shows the percentage of tests returning positive in each state. In states such as Florida and Texas, more than 15 per cent of tests are returning positive results for COVID-19. By comparison, the positive test rate since January 22 in Victoria is 0.8 per cent.

Compared to some other countries in the world, the positive rate of the US is also striking.

Things that don’t cure and/or prevent COVID-19

#39: Vinegar
“There is no evidence that eating, drinking or washing with vinegar does anything to stop Covid-19.” – Full Fact

*The facts in this article are derived from the Australian RMIT ABC Fact Check newsletters which in turn draw on their own resources and those of their colleagues within the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which RMIT ABC Fact Check is a member.