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Explainer: What is the California recall election?

August 30, 2021 diepthought

On Sept. 14, 2021, California will hold a recall election which will determine whether or not Governor Gavin Newsom will be removed from office before his term is up. In California, the requirements to hold a recall election is that 12% of the total number of voters from the previous election sign a petition, and these signatures must be from at least five different counties. California is one of 19 states that allows its citizens to recall its public officials.
California residents can vote by mail in this recall election. Ballots have been mailed out as of August 16, 2021.

Did California Governor Gavin Newsom mishandle the COVID-19 pandemic?

August 25, 2021 diepthought

In April 2021, Californians successfully petitioned to hold a special election on Sept. 14, 2021. The election will determine whether Governor Gavin Newsom will be recalled and removed from office, and replaced with a new governor.
One of the key motivating factors was voter anger over COVID-19 restrictions enacted by Newsom and his team. But business leaders and healthcare workers oppose the recall effort, saying the COVID restrictions are necessary to protect public health and keep businesses open.

Explainer: What is the COVID-19 Delta variant?

August 21, 2021 diepthought

The Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus is nearly twice as infectious as the original COVID-19 virus and leads to higher likelihood of hospitalization and death. Delta currently accounts for 83% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. To protect against the Delta variant, infectious disease experts around the country are encouraging U.S. residents to be vaccinated.

Are Black people responsible for anti-Asian hate attacks?

August 21, 2021 diepthought

Claim: With the spread of viral videos showing Asians getting violently attacked, many people have assumed that most of the perpetrators of anti-Asian hate incidents are Black.
Rating: This claim is MOSTLY FALSE. Two recently published studies analyzing hate crime data found that most perpetrators of anti-Asian hate were white. However, hate crimes are often underreported and the data is incomplete. Furthermore, the racial identity of the perpetrator is often not included in news articles covering anti-Asian hate.

Do unvaccinated people make up most of the current deaths from COVID-19?

August 10, 2021 diepthought

Claim: An Associated Press article claims that 99% of new U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations/deaths are occurring among the unvaccinated.
Rating: This claim is MOSTLY TRUE. It is impossible to know the exact percentages of hospitalizations/deaths occurring in the unvaccinated and fully vaccinated because the data is not complete. However, all existing data overwhelmingly suggest that nearly all of the current hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 are among the unvaccinated. Multiple government officials, both Democrat and Republican, have also concurred with this assessment and have encouraged people to get vaccinated.

Explainer: How Facebook Spreads Misinformation

July 28, 2021 diepthought

Billions of people around the world use social media services like Facebook to stay in touch with friends and family. Yet on July 20, 2021, President Joe Biden blamed the hesitancy around the COVID-19 vaccine on Facebook, saying that Facebook was allowing misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine to spread on its platform.

Biden’s statements about Facebook becoming a hub of COVID-19 misinformation is TRUE. Facebook has even admitted that misinformation is common on its platform.

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