Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders threw in the towel on his second bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Between a series of defeats that began on Super Tuesday and the coronavirus shutdown, the most liberal candidate in the Democratic primary never regained his momentum. Speaking from his home in Burlington, Vt., he told his supporters that […]
As hospitals worry about their dwindling reserves of ventilators to battle coronavirus infections, interest has turned to another kind of device that aids in breathing: continuous positive airway pressure machines, or CPAPs. Entrepreneur Elon Musk has donated some, and some hospital groups have welcomed the machines, which are typically used to treat sleep apnea. A […]
The hunt for drugs to rein in the coronavirus is, like so much else in this crisis, filled with uncertainty. President Donald Trump sees great promise in a compound called hydroxychloroquine. That’s based on a couple of early trials in China and France that showed remarkable results after just a handful of days. Some medical […]
For President Donald Trump and members of his inner circle, hydroxychloroquine stands out as a bright point of hope in the fight against the coronavirus. His personal lawyer Rudy Giulinani has been touting it as a key weapon in the public health arsenal. So has Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who pitched the drug to […]
In more than half a dozen public events since March 19, President Donald Trump has touted a possible treatment for coronavirus infection — using the malaria drug chloroquine or a related drug hydroxychloroquine, sometimes in combination with the antibiotic azithromycin. “I hope they use the hydroxychloroquine, and they can also do it with Z-Pak (azithromycin), […]
As Americans retreat under orders to stay-at-home and stay socially distant, it’s hard to think too far in the future. But there’s one group of medical experts who are firmly focused on what is to come: Vaccine researchers. Most public officials have made clear not to expect a vaccine in the next few months. Even […]
In a White House COVID-19 briefing, Jared Kushner picked up on President Donald Trump’s theme that the states should do more to obtain medical supplies rather than rely on the federal stockpile. “You also have a situation where in some states, FEMA allocated ventilators to the states and you have instances where in cities they’re […]
The week in fact-checking highlights short summaries of our best work; the links will take you to our full reports. This week: Does a mask protect the wearer, or everybody else? … International Fact-checking Day … No, Congress didn’t give itself a raise … Trump wrong on inheriting a broken test … A history of […]
Given the massive impact of the coronavirus, and efforts by elected officials to fight the global pandemic, it should come as little surprise that a virus-related item topped PolitiFact Wisconsin’s list of most-clicked items for March 2020. Here is a look at our monthly “High Five.” 1. Kenosha Democratic Party: “WI is the ONLY state […]
How does the potential scale of mortality in the United States from coronavirus compare with the leading causes of death in a typical year? It’s not an easy question to answer. We put together the following chart to try to offer some context to the lower and upper projections of coronavirus deaths offered by the […]
Millions of Americans are staying home under the orders of state and local officials due to the coronavirus pandemic. Well, they’re supposed to be. Without a federal lockdown policy, people who break state and local restrictions face a patchwork of penalties for their non-essential pursuits. The goal of stay-at-home policies is to slow the spread […]
By early March, the COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented shortage of hand sanitizers at stores and online. A reader asked us, when will we be able to buy hand sanitizer again? The short answer is, it doesn’t appear anytime soon. “The issue is we have a huge surge in demand across all sectors, so supply […]