As coronavirus continues to spread around the globe, with over 113,000 cases worldwide and a global death count of over 4,000, Fox News is continuing to downplay the severity, accusing Democrats and the media of purposefully fearmongering in order to hurt President Donald Trump’s reelection chances.

From the moment coronavirus became the dominant news story, right-wing conspiracy theories and narratives began to come out about the origins of the virus and other aspects of its spread. Fox News in particular has tried to minimize the risk posed by coronavirus, in an effort to shield Trump from any political backlash.

Given Trump’s tendency to make decisions based on what he sees on Fox, and Fox’s older viewer base -- a population most at risk of adverse reactions to the virus -- the network’s efforts to downplay the risk of coronavirus are dangerous.

And it’s possible that the impact of Fox’s coverage is already being felt. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that Americans are divided on party lines over the risk from coronavirus -- Democrats are about twice as likely as Republicans to say that the virus poses an imminent threat to the United States. Here are some of the ways Fox has downplayed the coronavirus or misrepresented responses to the outbreak: