A LOOK AT WHAT DIDN’T HAPPEN LAST WEEK

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

FALSE CLAIMS TARGET BIBLE USED FOR BIDEN’S INAUGURATION

CLAIM: President Joe Biden swore on a “Masonic/ Illuminati” Bible during his inauguration last week.

THE FACTS: Following Biden’s inauguration, false social media posts spread about the Bible he used to take his oath of office. Some social media users falsely suggested that the several-inches thick Bible, a Biden family heirloom, was “Masonic” or associated with an Illuminati conspiracy.

Conspiracy theorists suggest the Illuminati, a purported secret society, wants world domination. Freemasons, a fraternal organization, have been the subject of conspiracy theories since the group was founded over 300 years ago. Some founding fathers were even part of the group. “Sooo has anyone else realized this yet or ???? Masonic/Illuminati Bible that Biden swore on yesterday…” wrote one Facebook user along with a photo of Biden’s hand on the Bible. The false post had 19,000 shares.

But in fact, Biden was sworn in on a Douay-Rheims Bible, an English translation of a Latin Bible. The Bible has been in the Biden family since the 1890s. He used the same Bible when he was sworn in twice as vice president and seven times as a senator from Delaware, The AP reported.

“Nothing even vaguely Masonic would have been anywhere near these Bibles,” Robert Miller, professor of biblical studies at The Catholic University of America, told The AP in an email. “Same thing for the ‘Illuminati,’ to the extent that such a thing existed: repeatedly condemned by the Popes and certainly coming nowhere into contact with Catholic Bibles.”

Rev. Brent A. Strawn, a professor of Old Testament and law at Duke University, told The AP in an email there’s “no conspiracy” behind the Bible. He explained that the Douay-Rheims Bible is a translation of the Vulgate, a Latin translation of the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament. “Douay-Rheims is simply an English translation of the Latin Bible so popular in Catholic piety and worship,” he said.

BIDEN DID NOT INSTRUCT ICE TO RELEASE ALL DETAINED IMMIGRANTS

CLAIM: A new order from the Biden administration directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to release detained immigrants immediately.

THE FACTS: The Biden administration did not order all immigrants to be released from ICE custody. The false claim is based on an email issued by a local ICE officer in Houston to agents that was leaked to Fox News and taken out of context.

The email begins “I am just the messenger…” and instructs agents in that office to “stop all removals.” One line reads, “Release them all, immediately. No sponsor available is not acceptable any longer.” The email signature shows the author of the email holds the rank of assistant officer in charge for the Houston ICE field office.

Social media users and conservative websites cited the leaked email to spread the false claim that the Biden administration’s various immigration reforms had included immediate, mass releases of detained immigrants. “Joe Biden Orders ICE Agents to Release All Illegal Aliens in Custody,” read the headline of one article that was widely shared on Facebook.

Biden’s Department of Homeland Security did issue a memo on Jan. 20 that established enforcement priorities and paused deportations of certain noncitizens who already had a final order of removal. But that directive, which was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in Texas on Tuesday, did not include an order to release all immigrants from detention.

A statement issued by ICE that was shared with The AP on Tuesday confirms the agency is not under orders to free everyone in its custody. “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to make custody determinations on a case by case basis, in accordance with U.S. law and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy,” reads the statement. “During the course of routine operations, individuals can be released from custody based on the facts and circumstances of their cases.”

Furthermore, a review of the email thread from the Houston ICE office revealed the email in question was retracted a day later, only applied to a certain cohort of detainees and was issued in response to a federal court order — not a directive from Biden’s administration.

The emails became available to the public as part of a lawsuit the state of Texas filed against the Biden administration over its deportation moratorium. The email thread, which redacts email addresses and names, shows that after the first email was sent late Thursday morning, it was reversed Friday afternoon by an email that read, “Retract this directive immediately.” That second email was signed “FOD,” which is likely a reference to the field office director, the highest ranking position in the Houston office.

Another email in the chain clarifies the initial email was not instructing agents to release all immigrants, but rather “high risk detainees” with health issues who had to be evaluated for release under an ongoing federal lawsuit. In that legal case, a federal judge in California had previously ordered ICE to individually review detainees and identify those who were at high risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19 and prioritize their release.

“ICE does have the obligation to affirmatively review anyone in their custody with risk factors,” said Elizabeth Jordan, an attorney with Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center, which represents immigrant detainees in that lawsuit.

WHO DID NOT SAY COVID-19 TEST LED TO NUMBERS BEING OVERSTATED

CLAIM: The World Health Organization admits PCR tests to diagnose COVID-19 gave massive false positives, overinflating COVID-19 case numbers.

THE FACTS: A WHO press release is being misrepresented online to say it shows that polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for COVID-19 caused large scale false positives. Since the outset of the pandemic, some social media users have been falsely suggesting that false positive test results are the real reason behind the millions of reported COVID-19 cases. The latest posts are misrepresenting a WHO information notice.

In widely shared posts on Facebook and Twitter, social media users claim the WHO admitted PCR tests were causing false positives. Kelly Wroblewski, director of infectious disease at the Association of Public Health Laboratories, said people are confusing infectiousness with what they think are false positives.

The PCR test can determine when someone is at the beginning of the virus or at the tail end of it. “The PCR test doesn’t find something that is not there, the virus is there,” she said. The PCR test is generally a more sensitive test compared to rapid antigen tests, which identify proteins from the virus.

The WHO released an informational notice to lab technicians on Dec. 14 clarifying instructions about analyzing PCR tests for COVID-19. WHO then updated the news release and published it on Jan. 20. The January release spread online with claims it revealed a failure by the WHO.

“Wait. So there were too many false positives because the PCR tests were set at too high a threshold?” one Facebook post said. “Man, I hadn’t heard that anywhere — except about 5 million times from reputable doctors who were conveniently silenced by the media for the past 10 months.”

But the WHO made no such admission, nor did the health agency see a large scale number of false positives.

The supposedly “massive” false positives being mentioned in the post were in fact much rarer. WHO told The AP that it has received 10 reports of problems related to PCR tests for the detection of SARS-CoV-2.

“The reports were for misdiagnosis, both false positive and false negative results,” according to WHO. “After thorough investigation, WHO confirmed that tests were not always being used appropriately and in accordance with the instructions provided by the manufacturer.”

The release emphasized the importance of knowing the details about the patient, the number of cycles of testing done when analyzing the specimen provided as well as the patient’s clinical history. PCR tests work by analyzing the viral load in cycles.

Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, said the higher the viral load in a patient the easier it is for a PCR test to become positive. More cycles of the test are needed to detect infections with a lower viral load, such as at the start or end of having the virus.

THE NATIONAL GUARD RECEIVED NO OFFER TO STAY AT TRUMP D.C. HOTEL

CLAIM: Donald Trump invited National Guard members to stay at the Trump Hotel in Washington so they didn’t have to sleep in a cold parking garage.

THE FACTS: A spokesperson with the National Guard Bureau told The AP they received no offers to stay at Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C., the former president’s hotel.

After National Guard troops came to Washington to secure Biden’s inauguration, they were temporarily assigned to take rest breaks in a parking garage. Images of the guard members camping on the garage floor on Jan. 21 sparked widespread outrage as well as misinformation online.

“President Trump said he is opening his entire Trump Hotel in Washington, DC to the National Guard troops whom President Biden and the Democrats literally kicked to the curb, having sent them to bed down in the unheated Capitol parking garage with no food and only one toilet for 1,000s of men. God bless President Trump!!!” read one popular Facebook post. “Most media won’t tell you that TRUMP HAS OFFERED THE NATIONAL GUARD STILL REMAINING IN D.C. to stay at his hotel, rather than sleep on the garage cold floor,” another Facebook post stated.

But guard officials say the troops already had hotel rooms and no such offer from Trump was ever communicated. “We have not received any offers at the National Guard Bureau,” Maj. Matt Murphy, media relations officer at the bureau, told The AP in an email. A spokesperson at Trump International Hotel in Washington declined to comment when contacted by The AP.

Captain Chelsi Johnson, a spokesperson for the D.C. National Guard, said all troops participating in the mission had hotel rooms to go back to at the end of their shifts. Some photos circulated online that appeared to show some troops inside the Trump Hotel, though the photos were first posted before claims that Trump had offered his hotel to them.

“For this mission we are not lodging any National Guard troops at the Trump Hotel,” Johnson said. “National Guard troops can rest in between their shifts at a location of their choosing.”

In a briefing on Monday, Army Maj. Gen. William J. Walker said guard members photographed in the garage on Jan. 21 were taking rest breaks. “Nobody slept there. Nobody spent the night there,” Walker said. At the same briefing he said, “You stand 12 hours on your feet, you want to take a break.” The AP reported the National Guard said it originally moved troops out of the Capitol Rotunda and other spaces to rest in garages at the behest of the Capitol Police.

The National Guard and Capitol Police issued a joint statement Jan. 22 saying they coordinated to establish “appropriate spaces” within congressional buildings for on-duty breaks.