An interesting new paper examines the body of CDC analytic work during the epidemic. The authors are established epidemiologists who have been skeptical of the government response to the epidemic. Anyone with any skepticism knew that CDC viewed its role as messaging, not conveying truth. The authors examined publications, interviews, press releases, even CDC Twitter content, to ascertain the level of accuracy. They found 25 instances of numeric or statistical errors. 80% of those exaggerated the severity of the epidemic. 16 of the instances related solely to information or data on children, which is particularly egregious. Interestingly, in 16 of the instances CDC was informed of the error and in 13 either partly or completely corrected the mistake, which is positive. (SSRN Paper)
I recall a quote but cannot recall from whom but it aptly applies here to the CDC. “Statistics are the inverted mirrors of deception.”