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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Health & medicine fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about health & medicine. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

13,677 published reviews in this topic

NewtralHealth & medicine

Las autoridades sanitarias de EE.UU. recomiendan afeitarse la barba para prevenir el coronavirus

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns an alleged recommendation by U.S. health authorities to shave beards to prevent coronavirus. Newtral says that users and some media outlets circulated an infographic as evidence of this recommendation, but found that it did not concern the coronavirus outbreak: it dated from 2017 and showed that certain types of masks work better on faces with little facial hair. The review also says the infographic was about mask fit, not a recommendation to shave to prevent infection. It reports that the CDC, like other health authorities, did not recommend masks except for people in contact with patients or people with symptoms. Thus, the cited infographic’s age and stated subject do not support the claimed coronavirus-related shaving advice.

NewtralHealth & medicine

La doctora Yamamoto Lupercio ha encontrado la vacuna contra el coronavirus

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns an image circulating on social media that purportedly showed “Dr. Lupita Yamamoto Lupercio,” who was said to have found a coronavirus vaccine. Newtral reports that the image was recirculating amid confirmed coronavirus cases in Spain, but says the person pictured was not a doctor by that name: it identifies her as American actress Sandra Oh, known for *Grey’s Anatomy* and *Killing Eve*. The review also addresses the claim that a vaccine had already been found. It states that, at the time covered by the article, there was no vaccine for COVID-19, the scientific name used in the text for the virus. Together, the identification of the pictured person and the absence of a vaccine directly contradict the claim. The excerpt does not describe how Newtral established the image’s provenance or verified the identification, so no further checking method can be specified from the supplied text.

NewtralHealth & medicine

Las autoridades sanitarias de EE.UU. recomiendan afeitarse la barba para prevenir el coronavirus

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The review examines an infographic circulated online as evidence that U.S. health authorities were advising people to shave their beards to protect themselves from coronavirus. It reports that the CDC had published the infographic, but says it dated from 2017 and was unrelated to the coronavirus outbreak: it addressed how facial hair can affect the fit of certain respirators, rather than recommending beard removal as a general way to prevent infection. The review says it traced the infographic through search engines and identified its original publication context as No-Shave November, an initiative associated with prostate-cancer awareness. [S1] The distinction is what the infographic covered and whom its advice concerned. The review describes filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) as more substantial protective equipment used in professional settings, which must adhere to the face; beard hair can interfere with that seal. Its point about particular beard styles therefore concerns respirator fit, not a recommendation for the public to shave to prevent coronavirus. [S1] The review also says the CDC and other health authorities were not recommending masks for everyone at the time. It reports that, in a tweet dated February 28, the CDC reiterated that masks were for people in contact with patients or people with symptoms, and quotes the World Health Organization guidance that a healthy person needed a mask only when caring for someone suspected of infection with 2019-nCoV. Taken together, the review’s account supports its conclusion that an old, occupational respirator-fit graphic was being presented misleadingly as current general coronavirus advice. [S1]

NewtralHealth & medicine

Hay 86 clientes de un prostíbulo de Valencia en cuarentena tras el positivo de una trabajadora en coronavirus

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim said that 86 clients of a brothel in Valencia were quarantined after a sex worker tested positive for coronavirus. Newtral traced the circulating screenshot to cerebrother.com, a website whose own header identified it as a source of humorous content. The review says that the satirical context was lost when the claim circulated on social media, particularly Facebook, and was then repeated by Spanish-language websites. One such outlet was Panama’s En Segundos, which published an article presenting the claim as true. Newtral reports that En Segundos later clarified that publishing it had been an error and apologized to its readers. The evidence described in the review therefore points to a joke being recirculated as news, rather than to a documented quarantine or confirmed infection involving the alleged brothel worker.