Politico writer Carla Marinucci reported that California Republican Rep. Devin Nunes tested positive for the novel Wuhan coronavirus Friday following an interview with a local California radio station.
“New!” Marinucci began on Twitter. “Ca Rep [Devin Nunes] tells @KMJNOW he tested positive for COVID-19.”
An honest reading of the transcript, however, reveals Nunes said no such thing.
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1337507923547869184?s=20
What Nunes did test positive for were COVID-19 antibodies, meaning he must have come in contact with the virus at some point, but Nunes never said he had ever tested positive nor received an official diagnosis with the pandemic disease.
“I actually tested positive for the COVID antibodies,” Nunes said. “When that happened, the doctor said, ‘hey, you need to give blood plasma right away.’”
Nunes continued, stressing the importance for those known to possess COVID-19 antibodies to donate their blood plasma to help treat virus-stricken patients.
“They’re short. They’re out of blood plasma for COVID patients,” Nunes said. “This is really important because when somebody gets super sick and they go into the hospital, the plasma can be really effective to help save someone’s life.”
More resources on how to donate blood plasma if you test positive for COVID-19 antibodies can be found here.
Twitter, however, amplified the Politico reporter’s fake news, prompting other outlets and Twitter blue-checkmarks to follow suit without listening to the interview.
Devin Nunes tests positive for Covid-19 https://t.co/FXBI3vf7Hh
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) December 11, 2020
Devin Nunes is Covid positive https://t.co/KsUPFRGbJe
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) December 11, 2020
Rep. Devin Nunes said Friday that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
This is the same guy who said in April that “all American politicians and the media need to stop looking at death counters.” https://t.co/7sUoh9ssN5
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) December 11, 2020
Devin Nunes tested positive for the Trump Virus.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) December 11, 2020
