That's a fair point, but they don't have to compromise the truth. "The science we have says to do X, but if you can't do that at the very least do Y and here is

That's a fair point, but they don't have to compromise the truth. "The science we have says to do X, but if you can't do that at the very least do Y and here is the outcome you can expect as a result of failing to X" Keep to hard science and let politicians use that information to make less than perfect policy decisions. That way, people can at least trust the CDC to always tell us what we should be doing and we can blame or sympathize with politicians for making less than ideal choices to satisfy corporate interests or out of a lack of faith in the American people. That's much better than the CDC saying "The science says do Y" and then facing a massive amount of backlash as groups of experts say "That's a lie. The science says X" while advocates for Y say "See everybody! We were right!" and many people are left wondering who to trust. As a bonus, those who can do X, could choose to do the best thing no matter what the government policies are, including other nations with less petulant citizens who look to the CDC as a trustworthy source of information.