A story making the rounds in far-right conspiracy theory circles falsely claims that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had advance knowledge of the coronavirus pandemic.
The claim appears to have originated on Natural News, which is known as “a conspiracy theory and fake news website.”
Their theory is based on the CDC hiring public health advisors for its quarantine program more than a month before coronavirus was first identified in China. According to the page, more than 8,000 have viewed the story since it was posted yesterday.
“The CDC appears to have had advanced knowledge of the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, as the agency which deliberately delayed testing kits in the USA for nearly a month was hiring quarantine program advisors [emphasis in original] in November of 2019, to cover Texas, New York, California, Washington, Florida and many other areas where the pandemic is now exploding,” the article states.
In addition to the falsely asserting that the CDC had “advanced knowledge” and “deliberately delayed testing kits,” the piece references some common conspiracy theories about the agency. It claims that the CDC is “a criminal front group for the vaccine industry,” and “part of a globalist program to deliberately release a deadly pandemic virus in order to push for mandatory vaccines and funnel billions of dollars into the vaccine manufacturers.”
Natural News did not respond to request for comment.
The story also promotes a theory that coronavirus is a planned pandemic intended to cause a global financial reset that will create a cashless society, redistribute wealth from poor to rich, mandate vaccines, depopulate, lead to medical tyranny, and martial law.
“And yes, the CDC had advanced knowledge of it all. The proof is right on their own website,” alleges the piece, written by Natural News’ founder Mike Adams.
Adams asserts that the CDC hiring quarantine managers in areas with higher rates of coronavirus proves that it knew about the pandemic. He doesn’t mention that many of those places are also among the most populous cities in the U.S., such as New York City, Dallas, and San Francisco. Two of the cities—Anchorage, Alaska and Honolulu, Hawaii—have had only a handful confirmed cases of coronavirus.
Yet Adams insists, “There are no coincidences when it comes to such alignment of events.”
Identical versions of the article can be found on numerous website on the far-right conspiracy theory web, some of which may belong to Adams, who has bragged that he owns hundreds. The Daily Dot found it on legitgov.org, newstarget.com, hnewswire.com, zenith.news.com, and others.
The article also appears on InfoWars.
So who is Mike Adams?
Adams is a conspiracy theorist who calls himself The Health Ranger. He’s been described as a “pseudo-scientist” for promoting theories like vaccines include sterilization drugs, Zika was caused by genetically engineered mosquitoes, and the like.
Adams enjoys a cozy relationship with InfoWars and its founder Alex Jones. Adams is a regular on InfoWars—he’s been on six times in the last week alone. Some of his Adams’ InfoWars appearances are available on YouTube, including one called, “How to Spot a Demon in Human Form.” In this video, Adams alleges that abortion activists are possessed by demons.
In addition to sharing a penchant for conspiracy theories, Jones and Adams hawk supplements and health foods, and both have been kicked off Facebook and Twitter, though Adams persists on YouTube.
In 2018, Natural News’ official channel was banned by YouTube, then later reinstated. That channel, The Health Ranger, doesn’t presently show up in searches, so it may have been permanently banned. YouTube hadn’t responded by press time; this article will be updated if the company responds.
Adam currently has at least two channels: Health Ranger Store, which has dozens of videos, including recent ones; and Natural News, which only has two videos, both from five years ago.
More than a hundred videos of Adams are also available on other YouTube channels.
The Daily Dot asked YouTube whether the two channels or additional videos of Adams on other channels violate any potential ban.
Conspiracy theorists like Adams and Jones are always looking out for a way to capitalize on circumstances. Coronavirus is just their latest target.
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