CNN’s Keilar: ‘Biggest Names’ on Fox News Pushing ‘Dangerous’ Coronavirus ‘Misinformation’

CNN anchor Brianna Keilar accused Fox News of pushing “dangerous” misinformation the coronavirus pandemic Thursday on her show.

Keilar said, “We have pointed out before how millions of Americans are relying on Fox News to get their coronavirus information, or should I say misinformation and that includes the president. The biggest names on that network have helped politicize this pandemic, making misleading or false claims about everything from masks to social distancing to treatments for the virus. If you only watched Fox News, you might think that Hydroxychloroquine is to coronavirus what Tylenol is to a headache or gathering in large crowds without masks, indoors is safe, or that Democrats want schools and businesses to be closed forever. And why would you think that?”

In a clip, a doctor from a panel on Laura Ingraham’s show said, “We have decades of medical science, randomized controlled studies that show for respiratory viruses, masks do nothing.”

Keilar said, “That is just false. It’s nonsense, and it’s dangerous. It’s like telling people, ‘Go ahead and smoke, it’s actually healthy for you.’ Researchers at Brigham Young University have complied and read more than 115 scientific studies on the coronavirus, and there is consensus, broad consensus that masks work. Here are some key points: cloth masks can stop 90% or more of droplets carrying the virus from being dispersed. In countries where public masking was common practice before the pandemic, COVID-19 had an initial daily growth rate of 10% versus 18% in places where people did not regularly wear masks. Projection show that more than 400,000 Americans will die from the coronavirus by January 1, but if mask usage increased from 60 up to 95% up to near-universal, we would save 120,000 of those lives.”

She continued, “These are lives, that they are not being truthful about. These are families, destroyed, that they are lying about.”

After highlighting Fox New segments on herd immunity and coronavirus death projections, Keilar said, “Misinformation is a virus unto itself, and Fox News is the vector.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN