Given the spread of misinformation about COVID-19, Just Facts is providing a trove of rigorously documented facts about this disease and its impacts. These include some crucial facts that have been absent or misreported in much of the media’s coverage of this issue.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasizes that “this is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation,” and as such, this article will be updated as new data becomes available.

On one hand, the facts show that:

• If the number of people with active COVID-19 infections is actually 10 times the number of people who have been diagnosed with it, the average American would have to meet 4,675 people to come in contact with one person who has it;
• Deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. are now 0.04 percent of the lives lost each year from some typical causes of untimely death, including the flu, overdoses, and accidents; and
• The death rate for people who contract COVID-19 is uncertain but probably closer to the seasonal flu than figures commonly reported by the press.

On the other hand, COVID-19 is highly transmissible, which means it could spread like wildfire without extraordinary measures to contain it. This would greatly...

Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently gave an impassioned pitch for her “Green New Deal” on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. After stating that her opponents were misrepresenting the legislation, she read the full text into the Congressional Record and claimed that the reason it is “so, so controversial” is “because for years we have prioritized the pursuit of profit at any and all human and environmental cost.”

That statement, along with the actual text of her bill, are at odds with numerous facts about pollution, regulations, and the economics of energy.

Environmental Trends

Contrary to AOC’s allegation that the U.S. doesn’t prioritize the environment, the nation’s air has become significantly cleaner over the past 40 years. Under federal law, the EPA monitors the outdoor concentrations of six major “criteria pollutants” that are widespread and likely “to endanger public health or welfare.” According to the latest and earliest primary measures of these pollutants, the average U.S. outdoor levels of:

• carbon monoxide declined by 84 percent from 1980 through 2017;
• ozone declined by 32 percent from 1980 through 2017;
• lead declined by 99 percent from 1980 through 2017;
• nitrogen dioxide declined by 60 percent from 1980 through 2017...

While pressing her agenda to expand means-tested welfare programs, Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is claiming that the federal government’s poverty statistics vastly undercount the number of Americans who are “destitute.”

In reality, the exact opposite is true, because those statistics omit a broad range of government benefits, charity, and unreported income. When these are counted, the poorest fifth of U.S. households consume five times more goods and services than the poverty stats reveal. These material resources amount to an average of more than $50,000 per household per year, making the poorest fifth of Americans richer than the combined averages of all people in most developed nations of the world.

AOC’s Claims

In a recent video, AOC alleges: “You would not know that our country is posting record profits, because 40 million Americans are living in poverty right now, and if the poverty line was real—if it was around what some people think it should be—about $38,000 a year, we will be shocked at how much the richest society on the planet is allowing so much of its people to live in destitute [sic].”

Her number of 40 million is roughly equal to the Census Bureau’s figure of 38.1 million...

A groundbreaking study by Just Facts has discovered that – after accounting for all income, charity, and non-cash welfare benefits like subsidized housing and food stamps – the poorest 20 percent of Americans consume more goods and services than the national averages for all people in most affluent countries. This includes the majority of countries in the prestigious Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), including its European members.

In other words, if the U.S. “poor” were a nation, it would be one of the world’s richest.

Notably, this study was reviewed by Dr. Henrique Schneider, professor of economics at Nordakademie University in Germany and the chief economist of the Swiss Federation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. After examining the source data and Just Facts’ methodology, he concluded: “This study is sound and conforms with academic standards. I personally think it provides valuable insight into poverty measures and adds considerably to this field of research.”

The “poorest” rich nation?

In a July 1 video op-ed, the New York Times decries “fake news” and calls for “a more truthful approach” to “the myth of America as the greatest nation on earth.” Times producers Taige Jensen and Nayeema Raza claim...