The following is a roundup of newsworthy and noteworthy mistakes in reporting on COVID-19 and the coronavirus pandemic.
A March 27 correction from the New York Times:
“An article on Tuesday about public health experts’ plea to the federal government to take over the nation’s ventilator supply referred imprecisely to a study’s estimate of the need for ventilators in the United States. The study, by the Society of Critical Care Medicine, projected that there may be as many as one million people in the United States who need treatment with a ventilator over the course of the pandemic, not that the country will need 1 million ventilators over the course of the pandemic.”
A March 28 correction from NPR:
“An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Maotai liquor called Feitian is 53 proof. In fact it is 106 proof. The story has been updated.”
Another March 28 NPR correction:
“A previous version of this story incorrectly said the direct cash payments to individuals will cost about $300 million. The cost is actually estimated to be $300 billion.”
A March correction from USA Today:
“A prior graphic misstated the time that COVID-19 could survive on glass. https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/2020/03/25/coronavirus-survives-on-metal-plastic-cardboard-common-objects/2866340001/“
A March 30 New York Times correction:
“An article on Friday about the murky science behind the theory that the coronavirus was transferred to humans through pangolins misstated the name of a bat species in which the RaTG13 virus is found. It is an intermediate horseshoe bat, not a Chinese horseshoe bat.”
Another New York Times correction addressed ventilators:
“An article on Saturday about criticism of Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the coronavirus response coordinator, misstated the estimated need for ventilators in the United States as described in a study by the Society of Critical Care Medicine. The study projected that there may be as many as one million people in the United States who need treatment with a ventilator over the course of the pandemic, not that the country would need up to 1 million ventilators.”
An April 1 correction from USA Today:
“News: An earlier version of this story misstated what President Donald Trump said about whether he had been distracted by impeachment while fighting the coronavirus outbreak. What the president said was, “Well, I don’t like to think I did. I think I handled it very well, but I guess it probably did.” https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/03/31/coronavirus-trump-says-impeachment-distracted-him-coronavirus/5100694002/“