{"id":64970,"date":"2021-05-12T16:32:02","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T20:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=64970"},"modified":"2021-05-12T16:32:02","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T20:32:02","slug":"cdc-chief-dr-rochelle-p-walensky-gets-blasted-from-every-quarter-for-dangerous-and-unsafe-covid-guidance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=64970","title":{"rendered":"CDC Chief Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky Gets Blasted from Every Quarter for Dangerous and Unsafe Covid Guidance"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>CDC Credibility &#8216;Eroding&#8217; According To Ex-Obama Official<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->ZeroHedge.com<\/p>\n<p>The credibility of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is &#8220;eroding&#8221; after the agency failed to update its pandemic mask guidance, as well as recent accusations that\u00a0<strong>powerful teachers unions are dictating CDC policy in terms of school reopenings<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think the CDC\u2019s credibility is eroding as quickly as the cases of coronavirus are eroding,&#8221; said Dr. Kavita Patel, a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution and former Obama official. &#8220;That\u2019s not good news, because, we do need workplace guidance, we need school guidance,&#8221; she added in comments to\u00a0<em>CNBC<\/em>&#8216;s Shephard Smith.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There are men and women working on the lines outside on telephone and electricity lines, and they\u2019re still wearing masks because, in the absence of this guidance, we\u2019re making it up,&#8221; she added. &#8220;That actually puts more of us at risk, so this is time to step up. These are the hard parts of government and public health communication, but we desperately need someone to do it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"Advert_desktop__1J5vD Advert_tablet__3QEBr Advert_mobile__1rlLc Advert_placement__1I4yb Advert_align__N0_fw\"><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.cnbc.com\/p\/gZWlPC\/cnbc_global?playertype=synd&amp;byGuid=7000190524\" width=\"560\" height=\"349\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Patel&#8217;s comments echo those of prominent Republican Senators, including Susan Collins (ME) and Lisa Murkowski (AK).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I used to have the utmost respect for the guidance from the CDC,&#8221; said Collins during a Tuesday Congressional hearing on the pandemic response. &#8220;I always considered the CDC to be the Gold Standard. I don\u2019t anymore.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And according to Murkowski,\u00a0<strong>federal mask requirements are endangering fishermen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You\u2019re out on a boat. The winds are howling. Your mask is soggy wet,&#8221; she said during the hearing. &#8220;Tell me how anybody thinks that this is a sane and a sound policy?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, earlier this month\u00a0<strong>emails obtained by the\u00a0<em>New York Post<\/em>\u00a0revealed that the American F<\/strong><strong>ederation of Teachers lobbied the CDC &#8211; and even suggested language &#8211; for the agency&#8217;s official school-reopening guidance released in February.<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>The documents show a flurry of activity between CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, her top advisors and union officials \u2014 with Biden brass being looped in at the White House \u2014 in the days before the highly-anticipated Feb. 12 announcement on school-reopening guidelines.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c<strong>Thank you again for Friday\u2019s rich discussion about forthcoming CDC guidance and for your openness to the suggestions made by our president, Randi Weingarten, and the AFT,<\/strong>\u201d wrote AFT senior director for health issues Kelly Trautner in a Feb 1 email \u2014\u00a0which described the union as the CDC\u2019s \u201cthought partner.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWe were able to review a copy of the draft guidance document over the weekend and were able to provide some initial feedback to several staff this morning about possible ways to strengthen the document,\u201d Trautner continued. \u201c\u2026 We believe our experiences on the ground can inform and enrich thinking around what is practicable and prudent in future guidance documents.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Walensky wasn\u2019t on the Feb 1 email, but it was forwarded to her by Carole Johnson, the White House coronavirus testing coordinator. Many emails included Will McIntee, an associate director of public engagement at The White House. -NY Post<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>On Tuesday, CDC Chief Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky responded to criticisms over the agency&#8217;s response &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong>telling Senators that the school guidance changes were due to an &#8220;oversight&#8221; &#8211; and that &#8220;The back-and-forth was a normal part of the agency\u2019s process for drafting guidance,&#8221; according to the\u00a0<em>New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\"><em><strong>Ms. Collins also accused the C.D.C. of using faulty data in its recent mask guidance for the outdoors.<\/strong>\u00a0The agency\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/press-briefings\/2021\/04\/27\/press-briefing-by-white-house-covid-19-response-team-and-public-health-officials-32\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">announced last month<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cless than 10 percent\u201d of transmission was occurring outdoors, a statistic infectious disease\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/05\/11\/briefing\/outdoor-covid-transmission-cdc-number.html\">experts said was a misleading exaggeration<\/a>. Dr. Walensky said that the C.D.C. had used a rigorous aggregation of studies in a renowned medical publication, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, to back that figure.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\"><em>And Ms. Collins quoted pediatricians saying that the C.D.C.\u2019s\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/04\/25\/health\/covid-summercamp-cdc.html\">guidance for summer camps<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 in which federal officials said that children could be within three feet of peers in same-group settings but\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/04\/27\/us\/politics\/coronavirus-masks-outdoors.html\">must wear masks<\/a>\u00a0at all times \u2014 was illogical. Dr. Walensky allowed that the guidance would change now that\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/05\/11\/health\/covid-vaccination-younger-teens.html\">adolescents can receive the vaccine<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\"><em>\u201c<strong>We have unnecessary barriers to reopening schools, exaggerating the risks of outdoor transmission and unworkable restrictions on summer camps<\/strong>,\u201d Ms. Collins said. \u201c<strong>It matters because it undermines public confidence in your recommendations, in the recommendations that do make sense.<\/strong>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\"><em>Dr. Walensky said that\u00a0<strong>the C.D.C. was working to update its guidance as more Americans get vaccinated and as scientists glean new insight.<\/strong>\u00a0The agency\u2019s drafting process \u2014 seeking internal and external expert input \u2014 was collaborative and responsive, she said. -NYT<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Not very confidence-inspiring to say the least.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/covid-19\/cdc-credibility-eroding-according-ex-obama-official\">https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/covid-19\/cdc-credibility-eroding-according-ex-obama-official<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CDC Credibility &#8216;Eroding&#8217; According To Ex-Obama Official<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}