Debunking the False Claim That COVID Death Counts Are Inflated

October 20, 2020

Debunking the False Claim That COVID Death Counts Are Inflated

View all Scientific American publications.

October 20, 2020

Dear Reader,

Scientists predicted climate change would fuel the kind of devastating wildfires that California has seen this year. Except it wasn't expected to happen for decades. Next, studies indicate that televised presidential debates have very little, if any, impact on votes. And lastly, there's been a myth circulating online that the COVID-19 death count is inflated. Our lead story explains how the numbers are supported by three lines of evidence.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement
@sunyaaa

Public Health

Debunking the False Claim That COVID Death Counts Are Inflated

President Trump, a congressman and conspiracy fantasists have repeated the myth. But three kinds of evidence point to more than 218,000 U.S. deaths

By Christie Aschwanden

Behavior & Society

Presidential Debates Have Shockingly Little Effect on Election Outcomes

The upcoming debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump may be one of the least consequential in decades, experts say

By Rachel Nuwer

Natural Disasters

California's Mega-Fires Have Arrived 30 Years Early

Climate models that looked at temperature change could not foresee the effects of drought and fire suppression

By Anne C. Mulkern,E&E News

Behavior & Society

How the Best Forecasters Predict Events Such as Election Outcomes

Research reveals techniques that boost accuracy

By Pavel Atanasov

Environment

We Must Mobilize to Avert a Lonely Earth

The United States needs to repair the environmental damage that the Trump administration has wrought, both within the U.S. and across the world

By Tom Udall,Subhankar Banerjee

Space

Searching for the Atoms of Life

Any extraterrestrial organisms we find will be made of the same atoms we are—yet their existence will be profoundly important to us nonetheless

By Avi Loeb

FROM THE STORE

Playing Politics: The Science of Elections

Politics makes strange bedfellows, and that becomes even more apparent when trying to analyze the science of politics. Pulling from an array of disciplines, including social science, behavioral science and mathematics, this eBook analyzes key factors in the process of electing a leader.