Finding Reliable Information About COVID-19

November’s CivicJess Challenge focuses on how to find reliable health information online.

CivicJess offers information and activities on issues facing the Jessamine County community and beyond. Inform yourself and earn badges along the way. Plus, participating allows you to earn entries in our monthly drawings for a $50 Amazon gift card. Register and get started on Beanstack.

Finding Reliable Information About COVID-19

While the resources we covered in an earlier post will have information about the coronavirus, there are several websites where you can find more specific COVID-19 information.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Find detailed coronavirus coverage about everything from symptoms to cleaning to finding financial assistance.

The Jessamine County Health Department

Read information about the coronavirus in Jessamine County, find a testing site, and report non-compliance issues.

Team Kentucky

Get updates from daily reports and statistics and find information about testing locations, travel advisories, and guidance for businesses. Find information about applying for benefits and/or financial assistance from the Team Kentucky fund.

The World Health Organization (WHO)

Search for frequently asked questions, read guidelines, and check coronavirus facts.

Checking the Facts About the Coronavirus

If you doubt the truth of a news story or social media post about the coronavirus, try checking one of the following websites.

(Find the links below the infographic.)

WHO Myth Busters

The World Health Organization has a page devoted to correcting misinformation about the coronavirus.

Factcheck.org

This nonpartisan project of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center has expanded on their mission of fact-checking political claims to include coronavirus coverage.

Politifact.com

A nonpartisan website run by the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit school for journalists, Politifact researches and rates politicians’ claims about the coronavirus and other issues.

Snopes.com

One of the oldest and most respected resources “for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation,” Snopes also checks the reliability of news stories and social media posts. The site has a large collection of fact-checks about the coronavirus.

Ask a Librarian

We are always happy to help you research whether or not a news story, social media post, or image is true or false.