Experts were challenged when virus science didn’t align with rosy narrative.
WASHINGTON – On June 30, as the coronavirus was cresting toward its summer peak, Dr. Paul Alexander, a new science adviser at the Department of Health and Human Services, composed a scathing two-page critique of an interview given by an experienced CDC scientist.
Dr. Anne Schuchat, a 32-year CDC veteran and its principal deputy director, had appealed to Americans to wear masks and warned of “too much virus across the country.” But Alexander, a part-time assistant professor of health research methods, appeared sure he understood the virus better.
“Her aim is to embarrass the president,” he wrote, commenting on Schuchat’s appeal in an interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association. Continue reading.