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** New CDC Guidance on Respiratory Viruses
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As SciCheck Writer Kate Yandell writes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 1 updated its guidance on preventing the spread of respiratory viruses.

The CDC consolidated its advice on a range of common respiratory illnesses including COVID-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

The new guidance drops the standard minimum of five days of isolation in favor of a symptom-based approach. The agency advises people to stay home and away from others when they are sick with a respiratory virus. People can cease isolation if, over a period of 24 hours, their overall symptoms have been improving and they have been fever-free without using fever-reducing medications.

Some people, understandably, found the guidance confusing, and mixed messaging on social media didn't help.

One reader asked us if one day of isolation is sufficient to stop the transmission of COVID-19. Another posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter: “do you agree with Biden that one day isolation for covid is fine and dandy??”

But, as Kate explains, that’s not what President Joe Biden or the CDC is recommending.

“It’s not saying isolate for 24 hours,” epidemiologist Ronit Dalmat, a research scientist at the University of Washington, told Kate, referring to the CDC guidance. “It’s saying if you have a fever, absolutely stay home” until it has been gone for 24 hours, and also stay home until other symptoms are improving.

Even after resuming normal activities, the CDC recommends continuing to take precautions for five days. These include physical distancing, testing, improving air quality, using good hygiene and wearing a well-fitting mask, such as an N95 or KN95.

As Dalmat said, “That whole period could be quite a while. That could be 10 days for some people.”

For more, read Kate's Ask SciCheck "Explaining the New CDC Guidance on What To Do if You Have COVID-19 ([link removed]) ."
HOW WE KNOW
Historians and historical societies are gold mines for journalists writing about long-ago events. In a story on the Ku Klux Klan, FactCheck.org Assignment Editor Alan Jaffe contacted Linda Gordon, author of “The Second Coming of the KKK: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political Tradition.” Gordon knew that an image circulating online wasn't a photo of Klansman at the 1924 Democratic National Convention in NYC, but rather a photo of a Klan march in Wisconsin that same year. She provided Alan with a link to the photo from the Wisconsin Historical Society. Read more ([link removed]) .
FEATURED FACT
Unless the program is changed or new revenues are raised, the reserves of the Social Security trust fund related to the retirement portion of the program are projected to become depleted in 2033. At that time the program would only have enough income to pay 77% of scheduled retirement benefits, according to the latest report from the trustees overseeing the program. Likewise, Medicare trustees warn that the trust fund reserves for Part A, which covers hospital expenses, will be deleted in 2031. At that time, revenues would cover just 89% of program costs. Read more ([link removed]) .
WORTHY OF NOTE
Kate Yandell, a SciCheck staff writer, appeared on the CBS News affiliate in Philadelphia to discuss the dangers of health misinformation on social media platforms.

Kate was asked by Stephanie Stahl, a health reporter for CBS News Philadelphia, if health misinformation is dangerous. Kate said misinformation “could lead you to take actions that could be harmful for your health, like not vaccinating your children.”

To watch the interview, go to the CBS News report “Philadelphia-based FactCheck.org raises awareness about misinformation for social media users ([link removed]) .”
REPLY ALL

Reader: What is Joe Biden's net worth?

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: We wrote about this topic in October 2020 in our story “Trump’s False Claims About Biden’s Wealth, Recovery Wishes ([link removed]) .”

At the time, we wrote:

In August 2019, Forbes estimated that Biden and his wife Jill were worth $9 million. The magazine said their wealth included two Delaware homes valued at $4 million combined, cash and investments worth around $4 million, and a federal pension worth more than $1 million.

Since then, Forbes has updated that figure to $10 million. In an August 2023 article ([link removed]) , Zach Everson of Forbes wrote:

President Biden is worth an estimated $10 million, up from $8 million when he took office. The increase has nothing to do with family business dealings in far-flung countries. Instead, he is getting richer by doing what a lot of 80-year-old Americans are doing: sitting on real estate. The president owns two homes in Delaware that are worth an estimated $7 million combined, $1.8 million more than they were when he took office.


** Wrapping Up
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Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* "Biden’s Misleading Claim About Latino Unemployment ([link removed]) ": Under President Joe Biden, the Latino unemployment rate reached a low of 3.9% in September 2022 — the lowest rate since September 2019. But Biden recently said that the rate under his presidency was the lowest in “a long, long time.”
* "Trump’s ‘Bloodbath’ Comment ([link removed]) ": While speaking about the potential loss of U.S. auto manufacturing jobs to foreign countries, former President Donald Trump said if he isn’t elected, “it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.”
* "Transcript of Joe Biden’s Interview with Hur Reveals How the Date of Beau Biden’s Death Came Up ([link removed]) ": The transcript of President Joe Biden’s interview with investigators looking into his handling of classified documents shows that special counsel Robert Hur did not ask him about Beau Biden’s death, as the president falsely claimed in February.
* "Post Misrepresents Which Administration Sent Stimulus Checks to Dead People ([link removed]) ": Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, some stimulus checks were sent to people who had died. The issue was explained in government reports and the media when it happened in 2020. But a social media post has resurrected the issue and falsely claimed that it occurred during the Biden administration. It actually happened during the Trump administration.
* "Trump’s Comments About ‘Cutting’ Entitlements in Context ([link removed]) ": President Joe Biden said he has caught former President Donald Trump admitting that he wants to cut Social Security and Medicare. The Trump campaign said, in context, Trump was talking about cutting waste and fraud in those programs – not benefits.
* "Photo Shows 1924 KKK March in Wisconsin, Not Democratic Convention in NYC ([link removed]) ": The Ku Klux Klan caused a divisive Democratic National Convention in 1924 but failed to nominate its preferred candidate. A social media post shows a photo of a Klan march to falsely claim it depicts Democratic delegates at the convention in New York. But the photo is from a Klan funeral march later that year in Wisconsin.

Y lo que publicamos en español ([link removed]) (English versions are accessible in each story):
* "La transcripción de la entrevista de Joe Biden con el fiscal Hur revela cómo surgió la fecha de la muerte de Beau Biden ([link removed]) ": La transcripción de la entrevista del presidente Joe Biden con quienes investigan su manejo de documentos clasificados muestra que el fiscal especial Robert Hur no le preguntó sobre la muerte de Beau Biden, como afirmó falsamente el Presidente en febrero.

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