Megan Marrelli, program manager of Meedan, on fact-checking health information during covid-19

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When the coronavirus pandemic shook the world, journalists became science and health reporters almost overnight. Their beats turned to transmissions rates and the many ways people can potentially catch the disease.

In May, non-profit tech company Meedan launched a Digital Health Lab which allowed journalists to submit questions to be fact-checked by Meedan's team of in-house scientists and experts. The team includes public health researchers, epidemiologists, and infectious disease specialists, in collaboration from the Stanford Health Communications Initiative and the Harvard School of Public Health.

In this week's podcast, we talk to in-house journalist and editorial lead of the lab, Megan Marrelli about the process of fact-checking science that is not fully understood. She tells us about what we can report on safely and what kind of information we have to watch out for as there is simply not enough knowledge in the scientific community.

As the prospect of a second lockdown looms over us, this could prove a useful resource for journalists. Visit learnaboutcovid19.org to look through existing fact-checks and submit your questions.

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