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The officials at the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) have claimed the organization has been silenced by the administration of Donald Trump during the coronavirus pandemic. Six CDC officials have informed CNN that the federal government purposely ignored scientific evidence and made a coordinated response to the epidemic more difficult. The news outlet said the organization planned to put out a global advisory and warned about the dangers of flying abroad. In the time between their proposal and the publishing of the advisory, at least 66,000 Europeans arrived at the US airports. They said new data revealed it had reached 89 across the world, 2-days after CDC analysis showed the coronavirus was being transmitted in 29 countries.

A CDC official informed CNN if the advisory had been published when the organization planned, US lives would have been saved. He said, “We’ve been muzzled. What’s tough is that if we should have acted earlier on what we knew and recommended, we would have saved lives and money”. The officials also informed the outlet that the CDC had been relegated to an advisor, instead of leading the response, as would normally be the case.​ One CDC official said Trump administration also ignored the guidelines on safely reopening the United States. He said, “If you look at our guidance documents online, they have been watered down a lot”.

The source also said, “The ones that were written in March say, Go home and stay there, and they are clear. And the ones now say, in consultation with state and local governors, do what they say.” They also confirmed the role of the CDC has changed during the epidemic. The source said, “We normally give guidance, and then states take that guidance and turn it into policy.” He added that previously CDC employees were treated like scientists, but that’s not the case this time. If the science that we are offering up contradicts a specific policy goal, then we are the problem. The CDC guidelines include a 63-page document for safely reopening states. The guidelines called for specific safety precautions to be rolled out all over the country.