NBC News contributor never had COVID-19 despite claims
A frightening NBC News report that a medical contributor caught COVID-19 through his eyes while simply sitting on an airplane has been debunked by multiple tests results. Unfortunately, the network has yet to correct the story.
In May, NBC medical contributor Joseph Fair, a self-styled “virus hunter,” told the Today Show about his experience with the virus. “If it can take me down, it can take down anybody,” he said.
According to Fair, he caught the virus on a commercial flight out of New Orleans. “I had a mask on, I had gloves on, I did my normal wipes routine… but obviously, you can still get it through your eyes,” Fair told the Today Show from his hospital bed. “And, of course, I wasn’t wearing goggles on the flight.”
A month later, Fair repeated his tale to NBC’s Chuck Todd on Meet The Press, calling the illness “the worst I’ve ever felt. I probably spent 23 out of 24 hours in bed.”
“I don’t have any of those underlying conditions, I’m 42 years old. So you wouldn’t think, clinically, that I would be one of those people that would get so very ill,” Fair said, adding: “Those people that are young and think they’re invincible or people that just don’t think it’s going to affect them that greatly even if they do get it. I can say that my own experience was the complete opposite.”
What Fair, Todd and NBC News didn’t tell the audience is
Have your say: Letters and comments up to 250 words will be considered for publication. All letters must include a full name, address and daytime phone number, plus any affiliations that would place your opinion in context. The full letter policy and additional letters are available at sentinelandenterprise.com that before he made this claim, Fair had already tested negative for COVID-19 at least five times. Fair followed that up with an antibody test to detect if he’d ever had the virus. The results were negative.
But it wasn’t until July 7, nearly two months after his initial appearance, that both Fair and NBC revealed the results of his antibody test. Fair now claims his illness “remains an undiagnosed mystery.”
Not only was Fair’s suggestion
Email: letters@sentinelandenterprise.com (Please do not include any attachments) Fax: 978-342-1158
Phone: 978-458-7100 that he caught the virus through his eyes pure speculation (and in the view of some medical professionals, irresponsible to boot), but his COVID infection has been repeatedly debunked. And still NBC News has yet to take the incorrect report of his “coronavirus infection” off their website.
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