Attendees at Burning Man, an annual festival held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, were stranded after a late summer storm dropped more than a half an inch of rain and turned the dry land into mud.
Organizers closed the festival to vehicles after one death was reported. Officials provided no details of the fatality.
Amid the chaos at Burning Man, people on social media claimed an Ebola outbreak struck the crowd. Several posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, show a screenshot purporting to be from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirming an Ebola outbreak.
THE QUESTION
Is the screenshot of a CDC Ebola advisory at Burning Man real?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, the CDC advisory about the Ebola outbreak at Burning Man is not real.
WHAT WE FOUND
The screenshot appears to show an official post from the CDC’s X account. But VERIFY reviewed recent posts from the CDC along with internet archives and found no evidence the CDC ever issued an advisory about an Ebola outbreak at Burning Man.
In a statement posted on Sept. 4, organizers with Burning Man posted to the official website saying: “The online rumors of transmissible illnesses in Black Rock City are unfounded and untrue.”
In a statement to Indy100, a news magazine run news organization The Independent, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the Black Rock Desert site, said: “I can confirm the event entrance was closed for the year because unusual rainfall caused muddy conditions where there was a full stop on vehicles, and not for an Ebola outbreak. We have heard no information of any participants with Ebola.”
The viral screenshot directs people to a bit.ly link, which is a shortened link. When VERIFY clicked on the link, a web page opened with a 404 error.
“This is a 404 error, which means you've clicked on a bad link or entered an invalid URL,” the page read.
The screenshot also says to go to CDC.com/travel for more information. VERIFY looked at that website too, and found no travel advisories for Burning Man.
Using RevEye, a reverse image search tool, VERIFY confirmed the screenshot was created using a stock image of an advisory that once hung in Miami International Airport warning of an Ebola outbreak in Africa.
Amid outcry about possible Ebola, Marian Goodell, CEO of Burning Man, told NBC News that the situation at Burning Man was under control and that “there is no cause for panic.”
At least one festival-goer posted to social media about the Ebola rumors. TikTok user @angiepeacockmsw said that there is no Ebola at the festival.
According to the CDC, the most recent outbreak of Ebola happened in September 2022 in Uganda.
The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More »
