A former public affairs official of the US Department of Health and Human Services pressured the CDC to alter a report on the risk of COVID-19 to children.
Specifically, the editorial staff was pushed to alter epidemiological data on COVID-19's impact on children.
The novel coronavirus is estimated to have infected at least 7.43 million people in the US and has killed nearly 210,000 of them.
Paul Alexander wrote in emails to the editor-in-chief of the CDC’s epidemiological digest—the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report—on Sept. 11th, 2020.
He ordered changes that would downplay the risks to students and faculty if schools return to in-person classes, as President Donald Trump has demanded.
The requested changes seemed designed to convey a lower level of risk to students if Trump’s orders were acted on.
One former CDC official described Alexander making contact at all with the journal’s staff as highly 'unusual.'
That's because the CDC and its journal are supposed to be insulated from external interference.
