A Florida taxi driver and his wife had seen enough conspiracy theories online to believe the virus was overblown, maybe even a hoax. So no masks for them. Then they . She died. A had trouble refilling her lupus drug after the president promoted it as a treatment for the new disease. A hospital nurse when an ICU patient insisted his illness was nothing worse than the flu, oblivious to the silence in beds next door.
Lies infected America in 2020. The very worst were not just damaging, but deadly.
President Donald Trump fueled confusion and conspiracies from the earliest days of the coronavirus pandemic. He embraced theories that COVID-19 accounted for only a small fraction of the thousands upon thousands of deaths. He undermined public health guidance for wearing masks and cast Dr. Anthony Fauci .
But the infodemic was not the work of a single person.
Anonymous bad actors offered up junk science. Online skeptics made bogus accusations that hospitals padded their coronavirus case numbers to generate bonus payments. Influential TV and radio opinion hosts told millions of viewers that and that states had all of the personal protective equipment they needed (when ).
It was a symphony of counter-narrative, and Trump was the conductor, if not the composer. The message: The threat to your health was overhyped to hurt the political fortunes of the president.
Every year, PolitiFact editors review the year鈥檚 most inaccurate statements to elevate one as the Lie of the Year. The 鈥渁ward鈥 goes to a statement, or a collection of claims, that prove to be of substantive consequence in undermining reality.
It has become harder and harder to choose when cynical pundits and politicians don鈥檛 pay much of a price for saying things that aren鈥檛 true. For the past month, of massive election fraud have tested democratic institutions and certainly qualify as historic and dangerously baldfaced. Fortunately, the constitutional foundations that undergird American democracy are holding.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus more than 300,000 in the United States, a crisis exacerbated by the reckless spread of falsehoods.
PolitiFact鈥檚 2020 Lie of the Year: claims that deny, downplay or disinform about COVID-19.
鈥業 Wanted to Always Play It Down鈥
On Feb. 7, Trump book author Bob Woodward about the dangers of the new virus that was spreading across the world, originating in central China. He told the legendary reporter that the virus was airborne, tricky and 鈥渕ore deadly than even your strenuous flus.鈥
Trump told the public something else. On , the president appeared with his coronavirus task force in the crowded White House briefing room. A reporter asked if he was telling healthy Americans not to change their behavior.
鈥淲ash your hands, stay clean. You don鈥檛 have to necessarily grab every handrail unless you have to,鈥 he said, the room chuckling. 鈥淚 mean, view this the same as the flu.鈥
Three weeks later, , he acknowledged to Woodward: 鈥淭o be honest with you, I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down. Because I don鈥檛 want to create a panic.鈥
His acolytes in politics and the media were on the same page. Rush Limbaugh told his audience of on Feb. 24 that the coronavirus was being against Trump when it was just 鈥渢he common cold, folks.” 鈥 even in the early weeks, it was clear the virus had a higher fatality rate than the common cold, with worse potential side effects, too.
As the virus was spreading, so was the message to downplay it.
鈥淭here are lots of sources of misinformation, and there are lots of elected officials besides Trump that have not taken the virus seriously or promoted misinformation,鈥 said Brendan Nyhan, a government professor at Dartmouth College. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not solely a Trump story 鈥 and it鈥檚 important to not take everyone else鈥檚 role out of the narrative.鈥
Hijacking the Numbers
In August, there was a growing movement on Twitter to the U.S. COVID-19 death toll.
The skeptics Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data to claim that only 6% of COVID-19 deaths could actually be attributed to the virus. On Aug. 24, BlazeTV host Steve Deace on Facebook.
鈥淗ere’s the percentage of people who died OF or FROM Covid with no underlying comorbidity,鈥 he said to his 120,000 followers. 鈥淎ccording to CDC, that is just 6% of the deaths WITH Covid so far.鈥
That misrepresented the reality of coronavirus deaths. The CDC had always people with underlying health problems 鈥 comorbidities 鈥 were most vulnerable if they caught COVID-19. The report was noting that 6% died even without being at obvious risk.
But for those skeptical of COVID-19, the narrative confirmed their beliefs. Facebook users copied and pasted language from influencers like , who 2.2 million Facebook followers before he was banned. called it a 鈥淪HOCK REPORT.鈥
鈥淚 saw a statistic come out the other day, talking about only 6% of the people actually died from COVID, which is very interesting 鈥 that they died from other reasons,鈥 Trump Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Sept. 1.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, addressed the claim on 鈥 the same day.
“The point that the CDC was trying to make was that a certain percentage of them had nothing else but just COVID,” he said. “That does not mean that someone who has hypertension or diabetes who dies of COVID didn鈥檛 die of COVID-19 鈥 they did.”
Trump the message that sported the slogans and symbols of QAnon, that claims Democrats and Hollywood elites are members of an underground pedophilia ring.
False information moved between social media, Trump and TV, creating its own feedback loop.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an echo effect of sorts, where Donald Trump is certainly looking for information that resonates with his audiences and that supports his political objectives. And his audiences are looking to be amplified, so they鈥檙e incentivized to get him their information,鈥 said Kate Starbird, an associate professor and misinformation expert at the University of Washington.
Weakening the Armor: Misleading on Masks
At the start of the pandemic, the CDC healthy people not to wear masks, saying they were needed for health care providers on the front lines. But on April 3 the agency changed its guidelines, saying every American should wear non-medical cloth masks in public.
Trump the CDC鈥檚 guidance, then gutted it.
鈥淪o it鈥檚 voluntary. You don鈥檛 have to do it. They suggested for a period of time, but this is voluntary,鈥 Trump said at a press briefing. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I鈥檓 going to be doing it.鈥
Rather than an advance in best practices on coronavirus prevention, face masks turned into a dividing line between Trump鈥檚 political calculations and his decision-making as president. Americans didn鈥檛 see Trump wearing a mask until to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Meanwhile, disinformers flooded the internet with wild claims: Masks . Masks . Masks Masks just .
In September, the CDC a correlation between people who went to bars and restaurants, where masks can鈥檛 consistently be worn, and positive COVID-19 test results. and skeptical countered with a misleading report about masks.
On Oct. 13, the story landed on Fox News鈥 flagship show, 鈥淭ucker Carlson Tonight.鈥 During the show, Carlson 鈥渁lmost everyone 鈥 85% 鈥 who got the coronavirus in July was wearing a mask.鈥
鈥淪o clearly [wearing a mask] doesn鈥檛 work the way they tell us it works,鈥 Carlson said.
, and it misrepresented a small sample of people who tested positive. Public health officials and infectious disease experts have been consistent since April in saying that face masks are to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
But two days later, Trump repeated the 85% stat during and at a town hall with NBC鈥檚 Savannah Guthrie.
鈥淚 tell people, wear masks,鈥 at the town hall. 鈥淏ut just the other day, they came out with a statement that 85% of the people that wear masks catch it.鈥
The Assault on Hospitals
On March 24, registered nurse Melissa Steiner worked her first shift in the new COVID-19 ICU of her southeastern Michigan hospital. After her 13-hour workday caring for two critically ill patients on ventilators, she posted .
鈥淗onestly, guys, it felt like I was working in a war zone,鈥 Steiner said. 鈥淸I was] completely isolated from my team members, limited resources, limited supplies, limited responses from physicians because they鈥檙e just as overwhelmed.鈥
鈥淚鈥檓 already breaking, so for f—鈥檚 sake, people, please take this seriously. This is so bad.鈥
Steiner鈥檚 post was one of offered by overwhelmed hospital workers last spring urging people to take the threat seriously. The denialists mounted a counteroffensive.
On March 28, Todd Starnes, a conservative radio host and commentator, a video from outside Brooklyn Hospital Center. There were few people or cars in sight.
鈥淭his is the 鈥榳ar zone鈥 outside the hospital in my Brooklyn neighborhood,鈥 Starnes said sarcastically. The video racked up more than 1.5 million views.
Starnes鈥 video the first examples of #FilmYourHospital, a conspiratorial social media trend that pushed back on the idea that hospitals had been strained by of coronavirus patients.
Several internet personalities to go out and shoot their own videos. The result: a series of user-generated clips taken outside hospitals, where the response to the pandemic was not easily seen. Over the course of a week, #FilmYourHospital videos were uploaded to YouTube and posted tens of thousands of times on and .
Nearly two weeks and more than later, Fox News featured a guest who opened a new misinformation assault on hospitals.
Dr. Scott Jensen, a Minnesota physician and Republican state senator, that, because hospitals were receiving more money for COVID-19 patients on Medicare 鈥 a result of a coronavirus stimulus bill 鈥 they were overcounting COVID-19 cases. He had no proof of fraud, but the cynical .
Trump used the false report on the campaign trail to continue to minimize the death toll.
“Our doctors get more money if somebody dies from COVID,” Trump told supporters at a rally in . “You know that, right? I mean, our doctors are very smart people. So what they do is they say, 鈥業’m sorry, but, you know, everybody dies of COVID.鈥”
The Real Fake News: The Plandemic
The most viral disinformation of the pandemic was styled to look as if it had the blessing of people : scientists and doctors.
In a 26-minute video called “Plandemic: The Hidden Agenda Behind COVID-19,” a former scientist at the National Cancer Institute the virus was manipulated in a lab, hydroxychloroquine is effective against coronaviruses, and face masks make people sick.
Judy Mikovits鈥 conspiracies received more than 8 million views, partly credited to the online outrage machine 鈥 anti-vaccine activists, anti-lockdown groups and QAnon supporters 鈥 that push disinformation into the mainstream. The video in to promote Mikovits鈥 book release.
Around the same time, a similar effort propelled another video of fact-averse doctors to millions of people in only a few hours.
On July 27, Breitbart of a press conference hosted by a group called America鈥檚 Frontline Doctors in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. Looking authoritative in white lab coats, these doctors discouraged mask-wearing and there was already a cure in hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
Trump, who had been talking up the drug since and claimed to be taking it himself as a preventive measure in , clips of the event before Twitter as misinformation about COVID-19. He defended the 鈥渧ery respected doctors鈥 in a .
When Olga Lucia Torres, a lecturer at Columbia University, heard Trump touting the drug in March, she knew it didn鈥檛 bode well for her own prescription. Sure enough, the misinformation led to a run on hydroxychloroquine, creating a shortage for Americans like her who needed the drug for chronic conditions.
A lupus patient, she went to her local pharmacy to request a 90-day supply of the medication. But she was told they were granting only partial refills. It took her three weeks to get her medication through the mail.
鈥淲hat about all the people who were silenced and just lost access to their staple medication because people ran to their doctors and begged to take it?鈥 Torres said.
No Sickbed Conversion
On Sept. 26, Trump hosted a Rose Garden ceremony to announce his nominee to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court. More than 150 people the event introducing Amy Coney Barrett. Few wore masks, and the chairs spaced out.
In the weeks afterward, people close to Trump and the White House became infected with COVID-19. Early on Oct. 2, Trump announced his positive test.
Those hoping the experience and Trump鈥檚 at Walter Reed might inform his view of the coronavirus were disappointed. Trump snapped back into minimizing the threat during his first moments back at the White House. He yanked off his mask and .
鈥淒on鈥檛 let it dominate you. Don鈥檛 be afraid of it,鈥 he said, describing experimental and mostly out-of-reach therapies he received. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to beat it.鈥
In Trump鈥檚 telling, his hospitalization was not the product of poor judgment about large gatherings like the Rose Garden event, but the consequence of leading with bravery. Plus, now, he claimed, he had immunity to the virus.
On the morning after he returned from Walter Reed, Trump tweeted a seasonal flu death count of 100,000 lives and added that COVID-19 was 鈥渇ar less lethal鈥 for most populations. More false claims at 鈥 the U.S. average for flu deaths over the past decade is 36,000, and experts said COVID-19 is more deadly for each age group over 30.
When Trump left the hospital, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 was more than . Today it is more than 300,000. Meanwhile, this month the president has with a series of indoor holiday parties.
The Vaccine War
The vaccine disinformation campaign started in the spring but is still underway.
In April, blogs and social media users falsely claimed and powerful figures like wanted to use microchips to track which Americans had been vaccinated for the coronavirus. Now, false claims are taking aim at vaccines developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and .
- A blogger claimed Pfizer鈥檚 head of research said the coronavirus vaccine could cause female infertility. That鈥檚
- An alternative health website wrote that the vaccine could cause an array of life-threatening side effects, and that the FDA knew about it. The list included all possible 鈥 鈥 side effects.
- Social media users speculated that the federal government would force Americans to receive the vaccine. Neither Trump nor President-elect Joe Biden has advocated for that, and the federal government to mandate vaccines, anyway.
As is often the case with disinformation, the strategy is to deliver it with a charade of certainty.
鈥淧eople are anxious and scared right now,鈥 said Dr. Seema Yasmin, director of research and education programs at the Stanford Health Communication Initiative. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e looking for a whole picture.鈥
Most polls far from universal acceptance of vaccines, with only 50% to 70% of respondents willing to take the vaccine. Black and Hispanic Americans are even less likely to take it so far.
Meanwhile, the future course of the coronavirus in the U.S. depends on whether Americans take public health guidance to heart. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation , without mask mandates or a rapid vaccine rollout, the death toll could rise to more than 500,000 by April 2021.
鈥淗ow can we come to terms with all that when people are living in separate informational realities?鈥 Starbird said.
PolitiFact staff researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
Note: Readers can find the detailed for this story, as well as PolitiFact鈥檚 related coverage, or in the Lie of the Year Readers’ Choice Poll at .com.
