Breaking down viral misinformation: No, COVID isn’t in your tap water

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - New misinformation has been circulating on social media-- claiming to show COVID is in your tap water.

Experts say that’s not even remotely true.

Videos like this one on Tik Tok show someone dipping a nasal swab under the tap, testing it using an at home COVID test, and getting back a positive result.

But experts say the edited video is either fake, or a false negative.

“When any test is not used properly. you know, and there is always a chance that the test can be a false positive,” Sanford Health Fargo Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Avish Nagpal said. “So I think this is a completely inappropriate use of a precious commodity.. just the number of cases that we are seeing daily, no matter how many tests we produce, there will always be a short supply.”

Cases in North Dakota are showing a disturbing trend, with more than 1,000 new cases reported on Monday and again on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. The last time cases were this high... was November of 2020.

Dr. Nagpal says...it’s really bad news.

“All of that hard work. or progress that we had made in reducing the number of cases that was undone within this past week,” Dr. Nagpal told me. “Honestly, we are losing badly to misinformation.”

Misinformation like these videos.

Dr. Nagpal says even though it’s not mandated-- he’s still wearing a mask when he leaves his home, avoiding eating or going out and encouraging masking in schools.

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