Social media users shared a picture of a pamphlet entitled ‘There is NO Pandemic’, claiming to provide evidence of how COVID-19 is a hoax. The pamphlet contains false and misleading information.
Examples of posts sharing the image can be seen (here) and (here).
EIS 1
The flyer first claims that the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test for COVID-19 gives 90% false positive results. The text points to a quote from a New York Times article that reads: “Up to 90 percent of people who tested positive barely carried any virus” (here).
However, the article does not say that the PCR tests gave a ‘false positive’ result by incorrectly detecting the virus in people who are not infected. Instead, it asks whether the test should be used to determine how contagious a person is after contracting COVID-19.
As this Reuters fact check explains, the test can accurately detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 – which is the virus that causes COVID-19 – but it does not determine the level of contagion (here).
Although the actual percentage of false positives is not known, there are other measures, such as the number of hospitalizations of patients with COVID-19 symptoms, and deaths – indicating an increasing case load.
In a separate investigation, Reuters also denied the allegation that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said 93% of coronavirus tests yielded false positive results, which can be read (here).
EIS 2
In the next section, it is claimed that regardless of what someone died of, if they are positive for the coronavirus, their death is indicated as a COVID-19 death.
In the UK, COVID-19 deaths are recorded in two different ways. The first method records the number of people who died within 28 days after a positive COVID-19 test. The second shows the number of deaths where COVID-19 was recorded on the death certificate.
The first method is unlikely to overestimate the number of people who have died from the disease. On the contrary, it is the case. A dashboard that collects data from both methods shows that 54,285 people died within 28 days of a COVID-19 positive test in England by December 8 (here). This compares with the 59,618 people who recorded COVID-19 on their death certificate as the cause of death. Both measures are subject to reporting, as set out on the government dashboard, meaning the total is not final.
EIS 3
The pamphlet claims that a document from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acknowledges that the SARS-CoV-2 virus does not exist. An earlier Reuters fact check (here) explains that the document is genuine, but that the scientific process described in it was misrepresented.
EIS 4
The brochure then states that 94% of the people who died from COVID-19 already had conditions, with a document from the CDC that reads: ‘For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause. For deaths with conditions or causes, in addition to COVID-19, there were an average of 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death ”(here).
While this is true, it does not mean that these people would have died anyway, or that their deaths were incorrectly stamped as a result of COVID-19.
Instead, it shows that patients with a coherence, such as diabetes or obesity, are more likely to become seriously ill and die from COVID-19 (here).
The evidence for the impact of COVID-19 can be seen in the number of ‘excess deaths’ recorded since the onset of the pandemic. That is, how many people still died this year compared to previous years. In England alone, it is estimated that there were more than 61,000 excess deaths between March 20 and November 20 (here).
EIS 5
The next section refers to a CDC document on the mortality rate of COVID-19 (here). It estimates the survival rate for the disease, depending on age.
As this fact check (here) explains, even a high survival rate may not mean a small number of deaths if the virus is allowed to spread throughout the population.
Even with restrictions that have helped reduce the death toll, so far more than 1.5 million COVID-19 deaths have been recorded worldwide, according to data from Johns Hopkins University (coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html).
Furthermore, the impact of COVID-19 extends beyond its mortality rate, and the long-term health implications of the disease should not be discounted.
EIS 6
Finally, the pamphlet claims that masks do not work. Research suggests that this statement is incorrect.
The UK government says: ‘The best available scientific evidence is that, if used correctly, a face mask can reduce the spread of coronavirus droplets in certain circumstances and protect others.’ (here)
The guide says that face masks “are primarily intended to protect others, not the wearer, from the spread of infection”.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that masks can save lives if used in conjunction with other measures, such as social distance and hand washing (here).
VERDICT
Untrue. The points that appear on the pamphlet do not prove that there is no pandemic.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.