The federal government-run web site covid.gov used to host details about COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and therapy. Now, beneath President Trump’s purview, the web page redirects to a White Home web site espousing the unproven concept that COVID-19 originated in a Chinese language laboratory.
The idea, which has been opposed by many virologists, was espoused in a report by Home Republicans final yr that decided the pandemic started with a lab leak in China. Home Democrats launched a rebuttal on the time, stating the probe failed to find out COVID’s true origins.
The covidtests.gov web site, the place individuals may beforehand order free coronavirus checks, additionally redirects to this new web page.
The White Home’s new web site additionally contains medical disinformation concerning the therapy of the virus, falsely claiming that social distancing, masks mandates, and lockdowns are usually not efficient at mitigating the unfold of COVID-19. Nevertheless, a whole bunch of research have proven that these preventative measures do, in actual fact, cut back the transmission of respiratory infections like COVID-19.
Within the months since Trump has reassumed his position because the U.S. president, quite a few authorities web sites have been edited to mirror the agenda of his administration. With the assistance of Elon Musk’s DOGE, the federal government has tried to take away from authorities paperwork a whole bunch of phrases associated to variety. This contains phrases like “Black,” “incapacity,” “variety,” “gender,” “racism,” “ladies,” and extra. The federal government has additionally eliminated mentions of scientifically-proven local weather change from environmental web sites.