False: A video of a man emerging from a body bag shows that crisis actors are being used to show that people are dying from COVID-19.

By: Devika Kandelwal
February 9 2022

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The video is not of a crisis actor. The video is of an Austrian climate change activist who took part in a demonstration in Vienna. A Facebook user uploaded a video on February 7 with the caption "Crisis Actors, you had one job!" The video shows a reporter. Behind the reporter, there are several body bags. A man can be seen coming out of a body bag. Facebook users are citing the video to claim that "crisis actors" are being used to trick people into thinking people are dying from COVID-19 when they are not. The video has been viewed 586.4k times in the last 24 hours. Many who believe the COVID-19 pandemic is a conspiracy claim that "crisis actors" are being used. They say that the use of these crisis actors is proof that world events around COVID-19 have been staged or were planned. However, this particular video has been taken out of context and is not related to COVID-19. According to OE24, an Austrian news outlet, the video is from February 4, 2022, and is from a climate demonstration in Vienna. The people in the body bags are demonstrators, not crisis actors. We have debunked similar claims in the past, such as a claim about COVID-19 patients in New South Wales being paid actors and a claim that COVID-19 hospital patients in the U.K were also paid actors. These claims were also false. The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a lot of potentially dangerous misinformation. For reliable advice on COVID-19, including symptoms, prevention, and available treatment, please refer to the World Health Organization or your national healthcare authority.