Early in Outbreak, Americans Cited Claims About Risk Level and Details of Coronavirus as Made-Up News

NEW YORK NY, - APRIL 12: A man wearing a protective mask looks at his portable telephone on 6th Avenue amid the coronavirus pandemic on April 12, 2020 in New York City. COVID-19 has spread to most countries around the world, claiming over 114,000 lives with infections at over 1.8 million people. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)

Posted Wednesday, April 15, 2020 10:00 am

Mark Jurkowitz and Amy Mitchell | Pew Research Center

During the early days of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, about half of Americans (48%) said they had encountered at least some completely made-up news about it. Another 32% said “not much” when asked how much made-up pandemic news they had seen or heard.

A new, deeper study of open-ended responses to a survey of U.S. adults conducted March 10-16, 2020, as part of Pew Research Center’s Election News Pathways project, analyzes the specific storylines or claims about COVID-19 that Americans said they were exposed to.

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Early in Outbreak, Americans Cited Claims About Risk Level and Details of Coronavirus as Made-Up News

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