PragerU’s Candace Owens has been a prolific conspiracy theorist and spreader of misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Owens has continuously spread misinformation about the virus, claiming hospitals are inflating death numbers for financial gain, downplaying the threat, and lashing out at social distancing and mitigation efforts.

On April 14th, Owens was a guest on Laura Ingraham's Fox News show to discuss “racializing coronavirus.” 

As the national death toll of the coronavirus escalates, Owens has continued to downplay the crisis and insist that there are nefarious motivations behind the national attempt to mobilize Americans to flatten the curve. 

On April 6th Owens claimed that it was “ironic” certain states, including New York, Connecticut, and California were claiming to be the hardest hit, and that there is “a financial incentive” for states to inflate the number of coronavirus deaths.

As the national and global death tolls rose, Owens used comparisons to different historical events to downplay the threat of COVID-19.

Owens has repeatedly pushed a conspiracy theory that deaths are being artificially inflated for financial gain.

Owens has insisted that annual influenza outbreaks are comparable to the pandemic.

Owens has lashed out at mitigation efforts, criticizing her local grocery store for requiring face masks to protect employees.

Owens' appearance has been typical of Fox's inability to treat coverage during this pandemic with any standard of journalistic rigor. Fox has downplayed the pandemic, mainstreamed unhinged conspiracies, aired medically inaccurate information and repeatedly downplayed the threat of the virus in moments when experts argue that continuing the social distancing effort is crucial to avoiding a resurgence of COVID-19.