CLAIM: COVID-19 is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated” and “just another bad flu.” Roger Hodkinson, a pathologist who identifies himself as the former chairman of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada Examination Committee in Pathology, made the comments by phone during a public meeting in Edmonton, the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Not only is COVID-19 deadlier than the flu, but symptoms can be long-lasting, according to medical experts. Some online posts referred to Hodkinson as a former chairman of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Hodkinson has never been chairman of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the group said.
