6 things PolitiFact learned from one year of coronavirus misinformation Since the coronavirus emerged, PolitiFact has fact-checked nearly 800 claims â 60 percent of which were rated False or Pants on Fire! Â Â Cutouts occupy some of the stadium seats before a baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants on July 26, 2020, in Los Angeles. [ JAE C. HONG ] Updated Mar. 16 One year ago, Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The NBA suspended its season. About 1,000 Americans were infected, and the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. Today, more than 500,000 Americans are dead from COVID-19. The country is recovering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Schools and colleges, many shuttered since last spring, are slowly reopening. Playing in the background: a symphony of falsehoods downplaying and denying the severity of the pandemic.