A video shared on X purports an individual tested positive for Ebola at the recent Burning Man music festival in Black Rock City, Nevada.

Burning Man festival declares National Emergency in Black Rock City as over 73,000 campers trapped are urged to Shelter in place amid flooding crisis. Furthermore, someone just reported they tested positive for Ebola??? How would they even test for this? Don’t they have more… pic.twitter.com/bGQNCYIsUC

— Project TABS (@ProjectTabs) September 3, 2023

Verdict:

A spokesperson for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) denied the claim in an email to Check Your Fact.

Fact Check:

Burning Man attendees are beginning to exit the festival grounds following a Monday lift on a driving ban, according to CNN. Attendees had been trapped in the Nevada desert due to heavy rain and mud, the outlet reported.

“Someone just reported they tested positive for Ebola,” the X video’s caption purports. The video shows festival goers trekking through rainy and muddy conditions in Nevada but does not reference any information regarding the supposed case of Ebola. The video has been viewed 67,000 times as of writing.

The claim is false, according to a Sept. 3 statement posted to the music festival’s official website. Although the statement does not explicitly call out Ebola, it notes rumors of “transmissible illnesses” spreading at the festival are “unfounded and untrue.” Likewise, the music festival did not mention any instances of positive cases of Ebola on its social media accounts. (RELATED: Video Claims To Show A River Trash At Burning Man)

In addition, the CDC has neither released a statement nor a health alert to support the claim. Check Your Fact also did not find any credible news reports suggesting someone had tested positive for Ebola at the Burning Man music festival. In fact, all the news reports we found state the opposite–that the claim is false.

“CDC has not received any reports of Ebola at the Burning Man Festival nor has CDC has issued any warnings or had any requests for assistance from the state and local health departments,” a CDC spokesperson said in an email to Check Your Fact.

Check Your Fact has also contacted the Burning Man music festival for comment and will update this piece accordingly if one is received.