White House amplifies COVID conspiracy, destroys trust

Part I

The facts

The official U.S. government site for COVID-19 information and guidance, covid.gov, has been transformed into a Trump/MAGA conspiracy-mongering page. Up until April 18, 2025, covid.gov displayed a standard government facts-and-updates page typical of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with sections on vaccines, treatments, testing, and Long COVID. That original site has been deleted and is accessible only through web repositories like the Internet Archive. As of April 19th, 2025 covid.gov is the home of an official White House page called “Lab Leak, the True Origins of Covid-19.”

This new page contains no resources for people with COVID, no information on vaccines, and no mention of Long COVID, the chronic form of the illness. Instead, “Lab Leak” strongly criticizes the Biden administration’s response to the pandemic, and implies that former NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci manufactured evidence for an origin theory that would cover up the NIH’s involvement in the virus’s creation.

The page’s main assertions, that all signs point to the coronavirus originating from experiments at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and that the natural spillover theory only persists due to Dr. Fauci’s intervention, is a mis-characterization of the available evidence. While the lab leak theory cannot be officially ruled out, it also cannot be called the consensus of the scientific or 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 the AP, many scientists find this to be more likely than a lab leak. The CIA, FBI, and Energy Department lean lab leak (with “moderate” to “low confidence”), but five other intelligence bodies favor a natural spillover, and one remains undecided.

All but one of the five points of the Lab Leak “case” have been debunked by reporting from The New York Times and the Annenberg Public Policy Center. The most egregious lies being that there is no evidence to support a natural origin, and that COVID-19 “possesses a biological characteristic that is not found in nature,” which likely refers to the much-discussed furin cleavage site that was discovered by scientists to occur naturally in other coronaviruses. The majority of the intelligence community agrees that the coronavirus “was not genetically engineered.”

The manipulation of covid.gov away from facts and public guidance, and into nakedly political propaganda is not surprising to many of us. Newsjunkie, along with outlets like the Washington Post, reported that the data and information removed from government websites by the Trump administration would likely be replaced with falsity and propaganda. But holding government accountable means acknowledging its every abuse of power, including the unsurprising ones, and we can’t let the next outrageous insult to democratic norms distract us from understanding the implications of the last one.

In publishing “Lab Leak,” the White House takes a platform meant to educate and serve the American people during a time of crisis and twists it into a conspiracy-mongering showpiece. The page is an illustration of the Trump administration’s overall strategy for an anti-democratic consolidation of power, the consequences of which have been felt throughout COVID healthcare, and will continue to cascade through the remains of our democracy. I can’t hope to lay out and analyze all of these consequences at this time, in this article, but we at Newsjunkie hope that by acknowledging the effects of this specific abuse by the President and his allies, and discussing how journalists might counter the defacing and abuse of public service resources we can keep bad actors from untethering us from reality and plunging us into a world at their mercy.

The conspiracy

• “Lab Leak” abandons utility to embody the aesthetics and intrigue of a thriller novel’s book jacket, appealing to a conspiracist mindset

• Inclusions such as a military simulator-style animated map of Wuhan (sourced not from intel sources but from a screenshot of Google Earth) and the same image of a fatigued-looking Dr. Fauci that inflamed the right in 2020, paint a clear picture of the enemy

• Vaguely related accusations— the NIH awarded a grant to “facilitate dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan,” Dr. Fauci and Biden “evaded” federal investigation, Fauci “pushed” a coverup— are dispersed throughout the page like clues, inviting the conspiracy-minded visitor to put the pieces together on their own

• Intrepid MAGA sleuths are rewarded for their decoding skills with a story that confirms their worldview, and a sense that they’ve regained a bit of control— they’re a part of the game, in on the plot

• It reinforces the ideas that federal and global public health institutions are not to be trusted, China is a threat to the U.S., and Trump is the only one who sees through the ruse of the globalist cabal behind it all

• MAGA visitors are encouraged to identify with their hero-President as he marches out from the “Lab Leak” title to expose the crimes of the Liberal Establishment

• Trump uses his hero status to justify removing any check on his executive power— his supporters know that letting scientific experts and the international community have a say will only prevent him from foiling their villainous schemes

The consequences

• COVID is still killing Americans in 2025— according to WHO data, the U.S. topped the world leader board in coronavirus deaths during late May and early June with 663 fatal cases

• Even non-fatal infection continues to come with significant risk, as the millions of Americans suffering from Long COVID could tell you

• The removal of resources from covid.gov, including the NASEM’s description of Long COVID and its symptoms, will make it harder for sick and vulnerable people to identify their illness and seek treatment

• Journalists have lost a key source for the government’s position on ways to prevent and treat an ongoing threat to public health

• The information vacuum left behind is easily filled with myth, rumor, and conspiracy— right-wing social media grifters and Fox News anchors will be there with ‘alternative facts’ to replace what the HHS used to provide

• The narrative that the White House uses to fill the information vacuum, that the pandemic was an evil plot that Trump has vanquished, no longer a concern in the face of bigger foes like China and the remnants of government-funded science, justifies the abandonment of COVID healthcare

• Since the publication of “Lab Leak,” government bodies meant to ensure the research and treatment of Long COVID have been disbanded, resources for COVID Long-Haulers seeking disability benefits have vanished, and the COVID vaccine has been made less accessible

• This narrative also promotes distrust of government and media institutions, along with scientific experts, leaving Trump and his circle as the sole arbiters of fact

The press

• We must assert the truth— the White House can’t erase history if we keep reminding people of it

• We can look to alternative sources to the HHS’ COVID information, such as wastewater surveillance groups and journalistic efforts like The Sick Times

• We can represent the people left behind by the erasure of COVID and Long COVID and help them advocate for care

• Trump has to go through all of this effort to manufacture reality because his goals inherently contradict it, he fails if we refuse to live in the reality of “Lab Leak” and all of the administration’s lies