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.<br /><br />Specifically, the editorial staff was pushed to alter epidemiological data on COVID-19's impact on children.<br /><br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />The requested changes seemed designed to convey a lower level of risk to students if Trump’s orders were acted on.<br />One former CDC official described Alexander making contact at all with the journal’s staff as highly 'unusual.'<br />That's because the CDC and its journal are supposed to be insulated from external interference.
