Origins

On December 1st, 2019, a patient in Wuhan, China began displaying symptoms of viral pneumonia which doctors later determine to be a new Corona Virus. This is believed to be the first documented case of the virus. Between Dec. 31st and Jan 3rd, there was total of 44 new cases reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), and by Jan. 23rd, there were a total of 581 reported cases globally. By the beginning of April, those numbers jumped to over 1,000,000 global cases. (World Health Organization, 2020) The closest match scientists have been able to come up with has been sourced to Horseshoe Bats and Pangolin Viruses. The genetic material showed many similarities and was recorded within a %90 match in several different cases. However, in the end the conclusion was drawn that not enough evidence was present to fully pinpoint the origin, or any other direct ancestral viruses. (Lau, 2020) 

By the end of April, the global death toll had risen to over 200,000. The people with the highest risk being the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.

 

1. First fact: “On December 1st, 2019, a patient in Wuhan, China began displaying symptoms of viral pneumonia which doctors later determine to be a new Corona Virus. This is believed to be the first documented case of the virus. Between Dec. 31st and Jan 3rd, there was total of 44 new cases reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), and by Jan. 23rd, there were a total of 581 reported cases globally. By the beginning of April, those numbers jumped to over 1,000,000 global cases. (World Health Organization, 2020)”
   1. Fact Check: It is true that between Dec. 31st and Jan. 3rd 44 cases were reported. (https://www.who.int/csr/don/05-january-2020-pneumonia-of-unkown-cause-china/en/). However when I looked deeper into the report on Jan. 23rd I found that there were 584 cases that were reported when the article was published on Jan. 23rd (https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-statement-on-the-advice-of-the-ihr-emergency-committee-on-novel-coronavirus). I was able to confirm that there was indeed 1 million cases globally at the beginning of April (https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200404-sitrep-75-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=99251b2b_4).
2. Second Fact: “The closest match scientists have been able to come up with has been sourced to Horseshoe Bats and Pangolin Viruses. The genetic material showed many similarities and was recorded within a %90 match in several different cases. However, in the end the conclusion was drawn that not enough evidence was present to fully pinpoint the origin, or any other direct ancestral viruses. (Lau, 2020).”
   
   1. Fact Check: When attempting to retrieve the information from this source to fact check it, the site did not work. (https://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2607.200092.).
      1. However, I did look into this as well and was able to conclude from the CDC that, “Despite the close relatedness of SARS-CoV-2 to bat and pangolin viruses, none of the existing SARSr-CoVs represents its immediate ancestor” (https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/7/20-0092_article).
3. Third Fact: “By the end of April, the global death toll had risen to over 200,000. The people with the highest risk being the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.”
   1. Fact Check: Although there is no source cited after this fact, I was able to confirm through the Washington post, who cited Johns Hopkins University for their number, that on April 25th the worldwide total of deaths reached 200,000 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/04/25/coronavirus-latest-news/)

All of these sources passed to the Five W’s fact source evaluation

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kkWaijlmDE9pmEICnuix31tRpJbX0GLerG-q_0vwQ2s/edit