Bogus Kenosha Claim Goes Mainstream

On Nov. 13, actor and comedian D.L. Hughley shared an image on Instagram that made this false claim about the gun that Kyle Rittenhouse used in a fatal shooting of two men in Kenosha, Wisconsin: 

“Why are we just glazing over the fact that Kyle Rittenhouse’s mother put her minor child in a vehicle, drove him across state lines and dropped him off in the middle of a riot armed with an assault rifle,” the image reads. “Why is she not behind bars?”

A day later, Rep. Karen Bass made a similar remark in a CNN interview:

“Here, you have a 17-year-old boy who was driven by his mother across state lines with an automatic weapon — frankly, she should have been detained for child endangerment — to go to a protest where he says he’s going to help the police,” the congresswoman said. “I mean, it was ridiculous.”

But, as FactCheck.org staffer D’Angelo Gore writes, that’s not what happened, based on the available evidence.

According to court testimony and police records, the AR-15 style rifle that he says he used in self-defense during confrontations with the men had been stored at a friend’s house in Kenosha and was not with him in the car when he made the roughly 20-mile drive to Wisconsin from his home state by himself.

Where did the California Democrat get her bogus information about Rittenhouse’s mother, Wendy? D’Angelo asked, but a Bass spokesperson did not respond.

You can review the evidence yourself in D’Angelo’s article, “Rittenhouse Testified He Drove Himself to Kenosha Without Weapon.”

Reader: Grandson age 10 and ready to receive vaccine.  However, he is a big boy and currently weighs around 160-170lbs. And is around 5'4".   Should he receive an adult dosage?

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: We cannot give out medical advice. You should consult with your grandchild’s pediatrician. 

We do have "A Guide to Pfizer/BioNTech's Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccine for Kids 5-11."  

In that guide, Science Editor Jessica McDonald writes:

"While these age cutoffs are arbitrary on one level, there is a solid basis for giving younger people a lower vaccine dose than older people — and it’s not because of a person’s size. The rationale has to do with the development of an individual’s immune system.

"Younger people — and especially younger teens and kids — tend to have more energetic responses. Vaccine doses therefore can be lower for them, and this also helps keep the side effects more manageable. Conversely, for older people, sometimes higher-dose vaccines are needed to ensure a robust response.

"There is no need to worry that your large-for-his-age 10-year-old would be less protected or need an adult dose because of his larger physical size. Unlike medications, which often need to be prescribed by weight because a compound will only work at a certain concentration, vaccines are not based on weight and do not need to be sized-up for larger bodies.

"The trial data did not show differences in neutralizing antibody levels in 9- to 11-year-old children versus 5- to 6-year-old kids. Of the three cases of mild COVID-19 in the kids who were vaccinated, two were in 10-year-olds and one was in an 11-year-old. It is unclear whether that is indicative of anything, though, as this could reflect the higher exposure to the virus among older children, as older kids in the placebo group were also more likely to fall ill."

But, again, talk to your grandson’s pediatrician about his particular situation. 

Wrapping Up

Here's what else we've got for you this week:

• "Posts Misrepresent Data to Falsely Claim Italy Reduced Its COVID-19 Death Count": The vast majority of people who have died with COVID-19 had other medical conditions that put them at risk of severe disease, or other conditions caused by COVID-19. But internet posts misinterpret data about those conditions to falsely claim that Italy has reduced its count of COVID-19 deaths. It hasn’t.
• "Colorado Order Addresses Surge in Hospitalizations, Not Vaccination Status": Responding to a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order on Oct. 31 allowing hospitals that are at or near capacity to transfer or stop admitting patients. Social media posts falsely claimed the order says hospitals can “refuse to treat the unvaccinated.” But the order doesn’t mention vaccination status. 
• "White House Uses ‘Job-Years,’ Not Jobs, to Tout Infrastructure Law": Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris lauded the bipartisan infrastructure legislation for creating good-paying jobs for “millions” of Americans. But they meant millions of job-years, not millions of additional jobs. In fact, estimates of how many additional jobs the law will create range from not many to about 1 million over 10 years.

• "Una guía para la vacuna pediátrica contra el COVID-19 de Pfizer/BioNTech para niños de 5 a 11 años": Al igual que con su vacuna para adultos, Pfizer/BioNTech fue la primera en llegar a la meta y ofrecer una vacuna contra el COVID-19 autorizada por la Administración de Alimentos y Medicamentos de Estados Unidos (FDA, por sus siglas en inglés) a niños de 5 a 11 años. Aquí describimos en qué difiere de su prima adulta y lo que los expertos dicen sobre quiénes deberían recibirla. 
• "Japón continúa usando las vacunas, no ivermectina, para luchar contra el COVID-19": Más del 70% de la población de Japón ha sido vacunada contra el COVID-19 y el gobierno está planeando ofrecer la vacuna de refuerzo en diciembre. Pero un locutor de radio conservador en Estados Unidos declaró falsamente: “Japón abandona la implementación de las vacunas, opta por la ivermectina”. Japón no ha suspendido su programa de vacunación ni ha aprobado el uso de ivermectina como tratamiento contra el COVID-19. 
• "Los republicanos sesgan el significado de una carta de los NIH sobre la investigación de ganancia de función del coronavirus": Los republicanos dicen que una carta de un funcionario de los Institutos Nacionales de la Salud (NIH, por sus siglas en inglés) admite que la agencia financió la llamada investigación de ganancia de función sobre los coronavirus de murciélagos en China, y algunos vinculan falsamente al estudio con el coronavirus que causó la pandemia. Pero la investigación, que los NIH mantienen no es de ganancia de función, no pudo haber derivado en el SARS-CoV-2, el virus que causa el COVID-19.