The role of the agency in questioning 1,000 former CDC officials in the epidemic


Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wears a protective mask during the House Select Subcommittee on coronavirus emergency hearing on July 31, 2020.

Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wears a protective mask during the House Select Subcommittee on coronavirus emergency hearing on July 31, 2020.
Photo: Erin Scott / Pool (Getty Images)

In one Open letter Published this week, 1,044 former and current executives Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Epidemic Intelligence Service, a popular fellowship program That Focusing on research and emergency response, the coronavirus has expressed concern about the declining role of the public health agency during epidemics. There was one in the letter Net Demand: Get the CDC off the bench.

Letter, published in the journal Epidemiological monitor, Written by physicians, nurses, scientists and other health professionals who are former or current members of the EIS program. On it are two former CDC directors, Jeffrey Coplan, who met President Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Served under Bush’s presidency, and was signed by Tom Frieden, who served under President Barack Obama.

The letter highlights the fact that in previous public health crises, the CDC provided the best available information and recommendations to the public. In addition, he collected and applied research from the agency and scientists around the world.

But that CDC is hardly recognizable today, writes former and current agency officials. He further stated that the “ominous politicization and silence of the nation’s health protection agency” had taken place during the Kovid-19 epidemic.

“The absence of national leadership on Covid-19 is unprecedented and dangerous,” the letter said. “The U.S. epidemic survives through a deadly chain that threatens the entire country. Yet states and territories have yet to invent their own separate systems for defining, diagnosing and reporting cases of this highly contagious disease. Efforts to find inconsistent contacts are limited to each state – while coronavirus infections are unfortunately not. “

The situation, the letter said, is “chaotic”, which the CDC could avoid in the past by developing national systems for disease surveillance and integrated control in collaboration with state and local health officials.

Former and current CDC officials write, “The CDC should be at the forefront of the successful response to this global public health crisis.” “We urgently call on the American people and our country’s leaders to allow the CDC to resume its essential role.”

So far, that role has been neo-skeptical, everywhere, and certainly not on the front lines. Doing grandstanding to support President Donald Trump’s pressure Reopen schools Recommend against asymptomatic people who have been exposed to the virus (Which he later walked away from), The agency has not become the science and safety money we would expect during an epidemic.

However, to justify the CDC, the current inaction it finds itself in is directly related to the hot mess that the Trump administration is reporting. Has been interfered with With the guidance and public communication of the CDC. It is also difficult to provide the best recommendations for people, such as absolute necessity Wearing a face mask To reduce virus transmission, while the country’s president mocks his Democratic opponent for wearing a mask. (If you remember everyone, Trump Tested positive Shortly after former Vice President B Biden was mocked for wearing a mask for Covid-19).

While Good intentions, It’s hard to imagine that the letter, letting the CDC do its job and save the Americans, will inspire the powers that be, also known as the Trump administration. But now it can fall on deaf ears, there Is The election is coming. If Biden wins, it is likely that the letter will affect his future administration, and the CDC will look to change its role.

We have to wait and see.

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