Coronavirus Watch: Facebook removes millions of false virus-related posts
Fake news has gone viral amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Facebook says it removed over 7 million pieces misleading or "harmful" COVID-19 related posts from its social network and the company-owned Instagram in the second quarter. The company cited examples of posts that pushed "fake preventative measures or exaggerated cures that the CDC and other health experts tell us are dangerous."
It's Wednesday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here is the most significant news of the day, as of 1 p.m. ET:
- Inhalable protection? Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, say they have created a nasal spray that can help ward off the coronavirus – not as a cure or vaccine, but as an antiviral.
- Moderna, a leader in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine, has received another $1.5 billion in federal funding to deliver 100 million doses of its candidate vaccine. The money comes on top of nearly $1 billion the biotech has already gotten for developing the science behind its vaccine, known as mRNA-1273.
- The federal agency tasked with offering citizenship, green cards and visas to immigrants is planning to furlough about two-thirds of its workers at the end of the month after Congress failed to reach a deal on a stimulus package.
- Coronavirus infections have spiked in Texas as the state surpassed 500,000 cases Tuesday. While state hospitalizations have decreased, Gov. Greg Abbott said gatherings may have contributed to the surge in positive cases.
- A Georgia school district has quarantined more than 800 students after a photo of maskless students went viral last week.
- Churchill Downs racetrack unveiled a plan to host next month's Kentucky Derby before a live albeit scaled-down audience of 23,000. Last year's race drew 150,729.
Today's numbers: Wisconsin has reported its 1,000th death. New weekly case records were set in Indiana, North Dakota, Guam and Puerto Rico, and weekly record numbers of deaths were reported in Georgia, Tennessee and Puerto Rico, a Paste BN analysis of Johns Hopkins data shows. The U.S. has reported more than 5 million cases and nearly 165,000 deaths. Worldwide, there have been almost 750,000 deaths and more than 20 million cases. See the numbers in your area here, and check out where cases are rising here.
What do you want to know about the coronavirus? Submit your questions through this form.
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– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck