A video with more than 490,000 engagements promotes the idea that COVID-19 is just the common cold by showing a table in the 1989 American Medical Association’s Encyclopedia of Medicine with coronaviruses next to the common cold. Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause a variety of illnesses, including the early 2000 SARS outbreak, the 2012 MERS outbreak, and colds. The coronaviruses that cause colds are genetically distinct from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
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Addressing this misinformation could distract from priority talking points. Fact Checking Source(s): Penn Medicine, Reuters, Mayo Clinic
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The Public Health Communications Collaborative (PHCC) was formed in 2020 to coordinate and amplify public health messaging on COVID-19 and increase Americans’ confidence in guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local public health officials.
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