DISINFO: Over 80,000 people froze to death in the US during this winter
DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS
  • Outlet: sputnik.by (archived)*
  • Date of publication: January 22, 2020
  • Outlet language(s): Russian
  • Reported in: Issue 181
  • Countries / regions discussed: US
Tags:
fake statistics

DISINFO: Over 80,000 people froze to death in the US during this winter

SUMMARY

There is a big difference between how many people died because of the new coronavirus and how many people froze in the US. Open source data indicates that over 80,000 people froze in the US so far during this winter. However, this might not be a national catastrophe for them, because they do not treat people living on the streets as equal citizens.

RESPONSE

This statistic is fake and cannot be backed up with available data. No mass cases of people freezing to death in the US during this winter have been reported. Last winter, at least 21 people died in one of the worst cold snaps to hit the US Midwest in decades.

Read earlier cases of fake statistics alleging that the EU countries’ economies are on the brink of default, with over 20% unemployment rates, that in Chile, 10 kilograms of bread costs as much as an average monthly salary, and that 20,000 armed migrants are getting ready to break into the EU.

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Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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