CHICAGO — On Wednesday night, I received a fearmongering group text by a guy from the old neighborhood who is not an idiot. My pal sent a screenshot of a text that started: “Fwd: From a CPD Commander. This is Real.”
Here’s what it said: “I just got this report. Homeland security is preparing to mobilize the national guard. Preparing to dispatch them across the US along with military. … They are preparing to announce a nationwide 2 week quarantine for all citizens, All businesses closed. Everyone at home. They will announce this as soon as they have troops in place to help prevent looters and rioters … they will announce before the end of the weekend, within 48 to 72 hours the president will evoke what is called the ‘Stafford Act.'”
The message inspired a series of quick replies.
“How did you get this?”
“Can’t tell you, but it is from a real source.”
“Yikes! This is so scary”
“Knew that was coming.”
Of course, the “real” warning from a Chicago police commander was bogus, one of dozens of new coronavirus fake news conspiracies populating social media. This particular internet hoax was shot down by the White House via Twitter on Monday.
“Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE. There is no national lockdown. @CDCgov has and will continue to post the latest guidance on #COVID19. #coronavirus,” the National Security Council tweeted.
Nobody can blame you if you don’t believe every tweet coming from the White House. But, according to fact-checkers at reputable news outlets, this tweet is true.
The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act that President Donald Trump used to declare a state of emergency during the new coronavirus pandemic clears the way for the federal government to send emergency funds to states and disaster victims.
Click Here: Putters
A USA Today “fact check”of the same bogus national quarantine message posted on Facebook post by “Jasmine Morgan,” allegedly a Walmart employee from South Richmond, Virginia, determined: “The specific powers granted by the Stafford Act, however, do not provide the president or the federal government the authority to order a national quarantine.”
On Wednesday night, I sent my knucklehead pals a link to a story debunking the phony panic-peddling text message. At first, the geniuses didn’t buy it.
“So which should we believe???” one of the guys wrote.
“Standby. I’m trying to verify,” my buddy, a college-educated fellow who doesn’t wear a tinfoil hat, replied.
“I know there is a hoax text going around. My friend said this one is true, but I have my doubts. It’s probably a hoax, and if it is then he’s an a——. He does have a brother who is a higher up in CPD though, and he said he got it from his brother.”
Another buddy doubled down on siding with the bogus message. He texted a screenshot that he got from a guy at work whose “aunt works for homeland security” sent him a screenshot of a similar text warning family members to “stock up and be prepared” for a “quarantine up to 30 days.”
The text cited three sources: Some guy’s aunt got the text from “cuz Janet,” who got it from “a friend” whose “father works in homeland security.”
I tried to explain the hoax in foul language they would understand. “It’s bull—-,” I wrote.
A few minutes later, my non-idiot friend confirmed what I already knew.
“My buddy is an A——,” he texted. “Sorry for the scare. My co-worker’s brother is a Commander with Chicago Police. He told me the message was from his brother.”
The group text continued.
“These people should be ashamed scaring us.”
“Either way I’ll be going to Costco tomorrow.”
“People have to be careful passing these things around. Things are tense enough!”
There’s no point blaming heartless, social media scammers.
What the world needs now is for otherwise-intelligent people, like my buddies, to guard themselves against fake news, conspiracy theories and blatant lies that go against science circulating on social media.
The Guardian reported Thursday that Twitter, after getting criticized for allowing the dangerous spread of COVID-19 misinformation, plans to try to protect its users from misinformation by removing tweets that run the risk of causing harm by encouraging folks to disregard the advice of public health experts.
No matter what you might have read on unsourced, social media posts:
* There’s no evidence that eating garlic or ingesting “drinkable silver” protects you from the new coronavirus.
* COVID-19 isn’t “heat-resistant,” and walking outside is not enough to disinfect you.
* Drinking bleach won’t cure the new coronavirus. (But it might kill you.)
* African Americans are not immune to COVID-19.
* Being able to hold your breath for 10 seconds doesn’t mean you do not have coronavirus.
* Drinking water every 10 minutes does not prevent coronavirus infection.
During this unprecedented response to the COVID-19 pandemic, don’t be a sucker.
My best advice: Follow what once was the golden rule in Chicago journalism.
“If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”
Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting and Emmy-nominated producer, was a producer, writer and narrator for the “Chicagoland” docu-series on CNN. He was a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary, “16 Shots.”
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