Wow. Trump appointees in HHS privately touted their efforts last year to block or alter scientists’ reports on COVID-19 to more closely align with Trump’s "more optimistic messages about the outbreak," according to newly released documents. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/04/09/cdc-covid-political-interference/?tid=ss_tw

Trump's then-science adviser Paul Alexander wrote to then-HHS public affairs chief Michael Caputo in Sept. 2020, "touting two examples of where he said officials at CDC had bowed to his pressure and changed language in their reports..."

This is so bad. In response to pressure from Trump appointees in HHS, CDC leadership changed the opening sentence to a report about COVID-19 spreading among young people.

They *did* change information about COVID-19 published in MMWR, according to these new documents released by congressional investigators. MMWR is among the most important and widely cited public health reports in the world.

Ahhhhh this is crazy. It's so bad.

And this is just what we know about! Imagine all of the other stuff that is going to come out over the next several years. This is going to take so long to undo.