What happened to covid.gov?

The official U.S. government site for COVID-19 guidance has been transformed into a propaganda and disinformation page. Up until April 19, 2025, covid.gov was a health site with sections on vaccines, treatments, testing, and long COVID (the original covid.gov is preserved at Internet Archive, here). That information has been deleted by the White House. In its place is a malign tale called Lab Leak: The True Origins of Covid-19.

The new site contains no resources for people with COVID, no information on vaccines, no mention of long COVID. Instead, Lab Leak strongly criticizes the Biden administration’s response to the pandemic, and implies that former chief medical director Dr. Anthony Fauci manufactured evidence to cover up the true origin of the virus. The source of the outbreak, now “revealed” on covid.gov by President Trump, is a laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China. It was here, the ominous narrative asserts, that a leak in late 2019 unleashed COVID-19 on an unprepared world.

The main assertions, that evidence points to COVID-19 originating from the WIV, and that the natural spillover explanation only persists due to Dr. Fauci’s intervention, is a mischaracterization of the facts. While the lab leak theory cannot be categorically ruled out, it is not the consensus of the scientific and intelligence communities. There is peer-reviewed research supporting the theory that COVID-19 originated from contact with infected animals at an illegal wildlife market in Wuhan, and, according to AP many scientists find this to be more likely than a lab leak. The current CIA, FBI, and Energy Department lean toward lab leak (with “moderate” to “low confidence”), but five other intelligence bodies favor a natural spillover, and one is undecided.

Given the rapid politicization of government services being carried out by Mr. Trump in his second term, the recasting of covid.gov into propaganda is not surprising. Newsjunkie, along with outlets like the Washington Post, predicted that disinformation would replace research on dismantled government sites. Yet, the makeover of covid.gov is shocking. What should be a trusted resource for the American public is now a deceptive and harmful stunt, paid for with tax dollars.

In replacing the original covid.gov with Lab Leak, Mr. Trump usurps the traditional support role the government plays in a health crisis, and twists it into conspiracy-mongering theater. The page is another vehicle for Trump’s use of grievance—you’ve been lied to—as a magnet for attention and loyalty. The real world consequences are of no concern. Political gain is the only object.

It’s impossible to analyze all the aspects of this abuse in one article, but we at Newsjunkie believe there is value in using Lab Leak as a case study and a rallying point. The site contains narrative threads that Trump is using to weave a larger story about the threat of the so-called deep state, and the urgent need to marshal extraordinary powers to combat the forces “destroying the country.” It is our hope that by examining this dereliction of duty by the President, we can identify some of these narratives, the dangers they pose to the public and the information ecosystem, and share strategies journalists can use to counter them.

The facts

The Lab Leak story cites and embellishes certain conclusions from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic final report, published December 2, 2024. The Republican-led subcommittee’s investigation was partisan and openly hostile toward its deponents, leading the Democrats of the subcommittee to release their own counter-report which accuses their Republicans colleagues of “fuel[ing] extreme narratives vilifying America's public health officials, scientists, and teachers,” and “putting politics over people and public health.”

But both reports conclude that New York governor Andrew Cuomo, Fauci advisor Dr. David Morens, and Dr. Peter Daszak of EcoHealth, attempted to evade investigation and misrepresent their actions to the subcommittee. The Democrats condemned the actions of these men but maintained that the Republicans amplified their misdeeds in order to distract from the failures of the Trump administration’s early response to the pandemic.

Accusations against Cuomo, Morens, and Daszak, along with the claim that the WIV conducted gain-of-function biological research, appear to be the only items of semi-credibility on covid.gov. The Democrats of the subcommittee found that the WIV experiments funded by EcoHealth did not qualify as gain-of-function under the NIH’s definition, but this ruling, and the NIH’s definition, are subjects of debate among scientists. And some scientists consider a lack of adequate biosecurity in such experiments to be cause for legitimate concern.

The goal of the WIV research was to examine how coronaviruses effecting bats could evolve to spread among humans, but the viruses involved were not similar enough to COVID-19 to have caused the pandemic—scientists widely consider that scenario to be impossible, and the majority of the intelligence community agrees that the coronavirus “was not genetically engineered.”

Aside from the gain-of-function speculation, all the remaining points of Lab Leak’s case have been debunked by the Annenberg Public Policy Center and the New York Times. The most serious falsehoods in Lab Leak are that there is no evidence to support a natural origin, and that COVID-19 “possesses a biological characteristic that is not found in nature.” The latter likely refers to the much-discussed furin cleavage site that was proven by scientists to occur naturally in various forms of coronavirus.

The page also attacks masks and lockdowns as unnecessary and ineffective (“worse than the disease”) and implies that the six-foot-rule was made up by Dr. Fauci. It wasn’t. It was a CDC guideline (Fauci directed National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases). As COVID-19 became more understood, scientists realized that distancing would not be as effective as it would with similar illnesses, since it can spread on smaller, farther-reaching droplets. But that made masking even more important; studies show that they slow the spread of the virus by blocking and filtering these small droplets, with efficacy depending on the type and quality of the mask.

The consequences

COVID is still killing Americans in 2025, at a rate far higher than other countries report. According to data from the World Health Organization, the U.S. topped the world leaderboard in reported coronavirus deaths during the month of June with 589 fatal cases—over half of the worldwide total. The closest runner-up was Thailand at 152 fatal cases.

COVID’s infectiousness is comparable to the flu in the rise and fall along with seasonal surges. But unlike the flu, a COVID-19 infection can result in long-term illness and disability. As much as we like to think of the pandemic as over, that is not the truth. The fact is, the coronavirus remains a serious threat to public health.

“The White House is denying reality,” said dedicated long COVID journalist Miles Griffis. “[The current version of covid.gov] shows that the White House is more interested in putting out propaganda than actually helping people navigate COVID-19 and long COVID. It's a big insult to the millions who live with long COVID, and the many people who continue to get COVID-19.”

The world depicted in Lab Leak, where the virus amounts to the foiled plot of a sinister, yet incompetent Globalist Cabal, is a far cry from the reality that Griffis has been living in for the past five years. Griffis is the co-founder and executive editor of The Sick Times, an INN-affiliated newsroom focused on long COVID coverage, where he reports the latest scientific findings on the condition and the experiences of those who suffer from it. Griffis’s own struggle with long COVID, stemming from his original infection in February of 2020, has given him first-hand knowledge of the severe impact the coronavirus can have on a person’s life, even in 2025.

“I’m disabled from long COVID, five years on,” he said.

Many people living with long COVID, also called long haulers, are unable to consistently work, socialize, or walk long-distances. It is a chronic illness that 3.6% of surveyed US adults reported to be suffering from in 2024. These Americans are not served by erasure of COVID guidelines, or the promotion of propaganda in its place. And, as Miles Griffis points out, “everyone is at risk of long COVID. It affects children to elderly people, all races, all sexual orientations. There's a mass disabling event going on.”

People with long COVID and other chronic illnesses have been advocating for greater government support on behalf of public health. But to Griffis, the new covid.gov demonstrates that the administration is not interested in protecting our health. He pointed to the removal of resources that were a part of the old site, like the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s (NASEM) description of long COVID and its symptoms, as evidence that the Lab Leak page held no benefit for long haulers. Griffis explained NASEM’s list of symptoms (documented here) is an important tool to “combat medical gaslighting,” a barrier that prevents many long haulers from receiving treatment or accommodations for their illness.

The Lab Leak narrative justifies the abandonment of COVID healthcare. The page suggests that the virus is no longer a concern in the face of bigger foes, like China. There’s no need to spend on research, education, or social support for an illness that “no longer exists.”

The transformation of covid.gov comes alongside the disbandment of the HHS’ Advisory Committee for Long COVID and Office of Long COVID Research and Practice, plus the removal of the condition from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Job Accommodation Network’s (JAN) website, along with resources on how to qualify for disability benefits. The CDC has also stopped recommending COVID vaccines for children and pregnant adults, which has caused vulnerable people to be denied preventative treatment.

Lab Leak’s narrative also sows mistrust of government, scientific, and media institutions, exploiting the public’s anxiety about systems and experts shaping their lives. Trump is shown saving the day against the deep state. His persona and implied heroism in Lab Leak can be comprehended at a glance, while the HHS, WHO, and Fauci are murky and sinister. This is an anti-intellectual narrative, undermining the very concept of expertise. It’s a classic authoritarian move— cast doubt, muddy the waters, and then offer a path back to clarity and order.

The press

The news industry has lost a resource for health information. The Trump administration not only removed a key asset for COVID data, but has simultaneously elevated myth, rumor, and conspiracy to official policy. Journalism is undercut. Reporting on lies and the abuses leaves little room for advancing public understanding of health issues. Again, Miles Griffis: “Once Trump came into office, a lot of our reporting and time has been having to just report on the dismantling and the targeting of long COVID.”

Covid.gov may be lost to us, but there is still valuable COVID-19 information on other government sites. Official updates on the coronavirus still exist on the CDC website. Miles Griffis suggests turning to wastewater surveillance data to track the virus’s prevalence across regions. His outlet, The Sick Times, has worked with Long COVID Justice to create a series called Long COVID Essentials. Griffis also recommended the work of PolyBio and The Long COVID Survival Guide, a book written by long haulers.

Reporters can resist the Administration’s attempts to consolidate power by refusing to let them erase the vulnerable and ignore the needs of the public. We are easier to control when we are divided, isolated, and afraid, but journalism has the tools to give hope to those hit hardest by Trump’s betrayal of duty, and the initiative to create positive change.

According to a University of Chicago report, an award ceremony recognizing journalist Ed Yong, who was praised for his in-depth coverage of long COVID early in the pandemic, included an audience member with the chronic illness speaking about how Yong’s reporting gave him hope and inspired him to try to help other sufferers.

“’Your article on how COVID long-haulers are fighting for their lives is exactly how I feel,’ [UChicago alum Ibrahim Rashid] said. ‘It has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, and I felt very depressed and alone. But discovering your writing helped me see myself within a larger movement. And because of that, I feel less alone and I’m able to do the work that I’m doing for COVID long haulers.’”

Trump cannot control public health outcomes by clogging the information system. He cannot speak a virus out of existence. We must continue to speak the truth. The White House can’t erase history if we keep publishing it.