One of the most disturbing aspects of the pandemic response has been the complete sidelining of the CDC, an organization made for this moment. Have they been silent or silenced? You know the answer. The AP confirms it. “The Trump administration has shelved a document created by the nation’s top disease investigators with step-by-step advice to local authorities on how and when to reopen restaurants and other public places.” You can see the document in the article. It’s about what you’d expect. And it’s exactly what you’ve been imagining when you wonder why there are no helpful answers to your many questions.

+ This is part of a trend. In Arizona, Doug Ducey’s “health department shut down the work of academic experts predicting the peak of the state’s coronavirus outbreak was still about two weeks away.”

+ “In a way, by doing all this testing we make ourselves look bad.” Trump’s New Message: Time to Move On to the Economic Recovery.

+ The other part of the strategy: Trump and some top aides question accuracy of virus death toll.

+ Sideline experts, question reality. We know this tune all to well. Meanwhile, as David Wallace-Wells explains, There Is Still No Plan: “Aside from flattening the curve in critical places enough to ease the burden on the health-care system, the country has accomplished essentially none of the necessary preparatory work required to safely begin to reopen and return to some semblance of normal life.” Or maybe Jay Rosen got it right: The plan is to have no plan.

+ Sometimes, reality has a way of sneaking up on you. One of Trump’s personal valets has tested positive for coronavirus.