Tag: CDC

Psaki defends White House’s definition of reopening schools amid criticism

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday defended the Biden administration’s definition of having schools “open” during the coronavirus pandemic amid criticism that the goal is not ambitious enough and has already been met across parts of the country.

Psaki faced multiple questions during her daily briefing with reporters after she said Tuesday that Biden’s goal of having schools open within his first 100 days office meant more than 50 percent of schools were holding at least one day of in-person learning each week by the end of that time frame.

But some were quick to point out that many districts around the country were already doing at least one day of in-person learning under hybrid models, and questioned why the administration was setting the bar so low. Continue reading.

Health-care workers, nursing home residents should get coronavirus vaccine first, panel says

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An estimated 20 million health-care workers should get top priority for a vaccine to keep the nation’s hospitals and clinics functioning, an advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Tuesday.

Biotechnology company Moderna has requested emergency authorization of its experimental vaccine, which means the U.S. government potentially could start distributing two vaccines in the next few weeks. View the post here.

CDC advises Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving

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The CDC issued new guidance on Thursday advising Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving, warning doing so may increase the chance of getting and spreading COVID-19.

Why it matters: The U.S. has seen over 1 million new coronavirus case in just this past week — and indoor household gatherings nationwide could make the situation even worse.

  • “One of our concerns is people over the holiday season get together, and they may actually be bringing infection with them to that small gathering and not even know it,” Henry Walke, the CDC’s COVID-19 incident manager, said on a call with reporters.
  • “We’re very concerned about people who are coming together sort of outside their household bubble.” Continue reading.

Wearing a mask isn’t just about protecting other people, the CDC says. It can help you — and might prevent lockdowns.

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NOTE: This article is provided free of charge for all to read by The Washington Post.

As part of a push for stronger messaging, the agency acknowledged masks work both as ‘source control and personal protection’

When the White House coronavirus task force first recommended mask-wearing April 3, officials emphasized that this was not about you. It was about others. Your mom, dad, other family members. Friends. The older woman who always smiles at you at the grocery store, the immunocompromised dad coaching your kid’s basketball team.

Now, a growing body of science suggests that by wearing a mask to prevent spreading the virus, you may be protecting yourself, too. It is further evidence that knowledge about masks, and their benefits, continues to evolve — much as does understanding of the pandemic more broadly.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said for the first time, writing in a scientific bulletin posted to its website this week that “the benefit of masking is derived from the combination of source control and personal protection for the mask wearer.” Masks are neither completely selfless nor selfish — they help everyone. Continue reading.

Trump disputes CDC director on vaccine timing, says ‘he made a mistake’

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President Trump on Wednesday repeatedly contradicted one of his top health officials, saying Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield was wrong about the timeline for a possible coronavirus vaccine and the efficacy of wearing masks. 

Trump insisted at a press conference that Redfield made a “mistake” when he stated in testimony earlier on Wednesday that a potential coronavirus vaccine would not be available to the general public until at least mid-2021. 

“I think he made a mistake when he said that. It’s just incorrect information,” Trump told reporters. “That is incorrect information.”  Continue reading.

Trump is misrepresenting coronavirus data again, and it’s extremely dangerous

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report released last week has quickly become yet another cause for public controversy and confusion. Why? Because the coronavirus data — which showed that 94% of people who die of COVID-19 also have preexisting conditions — has been widely misinterpreted by many (including, of course, our President).

For those who egregiously assert that COVID-19 deaths are overreported, this served as evidence that most of the people who died after being infected with coronavirus were actually already sick beforehand and that COVID-19 itself has only actually killed only around 9,000 people in the US. Here’s everything you need to know to remain on the logical side of this conversation.

The report released by the CDC was a breakdown of COVID-19 fatalities in the U.S. from February to August, based on death certificates. First of all, this data is considered “provisional,” because these counts may not match counts from other sources, such as data from county health departments, the CDC stated in the report. That doesn’t mean the information is irrelevant, it just means that it’s subject to change. The CDC considers death certificates to be reliable sources of information because they include demographic details that state reporting agencies don’t, which makes them useful in figuring out what other factors (e.g.: like age, race, and underlying health conditions) may have contributed to a person’s death. Continue reading.

We ran the CDC. No president ever politicized its science the way Trump has.

Washington Post logoThe administration is undermining public health

As America begins the formidable task of getting our kids back to school and all of us back to work safely amid a pandemic that is only getting worse, public health experts face two opponents: covid-19, but also political leaders and others attempting to undermine the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As the debate last week around reopening schools more safely showed, these repeated efforts to subvert sound public health guidelines introduce chaos and uncertainty while unnecessarily putting lives at risk.

As of this date, the CDC guidelines, which were designed to protect children, teachers, school staffers and their families — no matter the state and no matter the politics — have not been altered. It is not unusual for CDC guidelines to be changed or amended during a clearance process that moves through multiple agencies and the White House. But it is extraordinary for guidelines to be undermined after their release. Through last week, and into Monday, the administration continued to cast public doubt on the agency’s recommendations and role in informing and guiding the nation’s pandemic response. On Sunday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos characterized the CDC guidelines as an impediment to reopening schools quickly rather than what they are: the path to doing so safely. The only valid reason to change released guidelines is new information and new science — not politics.

One of the many contributions the CDC provides our country is sound public health guidance that states and communities can adapt to their local context — expertise even more essential during a pandemic, when uncertainty is the norm. The four of us led the CDC over a period of more than 15 years, spanning Republican and Democratic administrations alike. We cannot recall over our collective tenure a single time when political pressure led to a change in the interpretation of scientific evidence. Continue reading.

CDC feels pressure from Trump as rift grows over coronavirus response

Washington Post logoThe June 28 email to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was ominous: A senior adviser to a top Health and Human Services Department official accused the CDC of “undermining the President” by putting out a report about the potential risks of the coronavirusto pregnant women.

The adviser, Paul Alexander, criticized the agency’s methods and said its warning to pregnant women “reads in a way to frighten women . . . as if the President and his administration can’t fix this and it is getting worse.”

As the country enters a frightening phase of the pandemic with new daily cases surpassing 57,000 on Thursday, the CDC, the nation’s top public health agency, is coming under intense pressure from President Trump and his allies, who are downplaying the dangers in a bid to revive the economy ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election. In a White House guided by the president’s instincts, rather than by evidence-based policy, the CDC finds itself forced constantly to backtrack or sidelined from pivotal decisions. Continue reading.

CDC director says no revised school guidelines despite Trump’s push

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not revise its guidelines for reopening schools despite calls from President Donald Trumpand the White House to do so, agency Director Dr. Robert Redfield said Thursday.

Instead, additional reference documents will be provided, Redfield told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

As anxious parents and educators across the country hand wring over how to safely bring children back to the classroom, the discord between Trump and his top health advisers over appropriate precautions has added another layer of uncertainty. Continue reading.

CDC will issue new guidance on school openings, Pence says, after criticism from Trump

Washington Post logoThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will issue new guidance on school openings, Vice President Pence said Wednesday, hours after President Trump criticized earlier recommendations as “very impractical” and vowed to meet with the agency himself.

Citing Trump’s concern that the guidance might be “too tough,” Pence said that the CDC would issue additional recommendations starting next week that would provide “more clarity” and stressed that the guidelines should not supplant the judgment of local officials.

“We don’t want the guidance from CDC to be a reason why schools don’t open,” Pence said. “I think that every American, every American knows that we can safely reopen our schools. . . . We want, as the president said this morning, to make sure that what we’re doing doesn’t stand in the way of doing that.” Continued reading.