Tag: CDC

Republican lawmakers received ‘sobering’ briefing that most Americans will be exposed to coronavirus

AlterNet logoRepublican lawmakers were given what’s been described as a “sobering” briefing about the spread of coronavirus in the United States, in which they were told that the majority of Americans would be exposed to the virus within the next two years.

The Daily Beast reports that Rajeev Venkayya, the president of the Global Vaccine Business Unit at Tokyo-based pharmaceutical giant Takeda, told lawmakers that it will be vital to provide “widespread access to medical care,” as the virus will spread rapidly through the population.

He emphasized that being exposed to coronavirus is not the same as being infected, although The Daily Beast notes that “the comment appeared to go further than the most recent public warnings from the CDC” about the spread of the disease. Continue reading.

CDC Chief Testifies About Trump’s Misleading Coronavirus Claims

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday contradicted a number of false claims pushed by Donald Trump about the current COVID-19 outbreak.

CDC Director Robert Redfield was testifying before the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies about his agency’s budget request for the 2021 fiscal year.

During the hearing, Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) read a list of statements Trump had made about the outbreak and the administration’s response efforts in recent weeks, asking Redfield whether he agreed with any of them. Continue reading.

At CDC, Trump Blurts Damning Remark About Coronavirus Ship

President Donald Trump has an odd habit of confirming critics’ worst fears about him by just blurting out his inner feelings.

On Friday, while appearing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Trump did just that when he revealed he wanted to keep passengers on a cruise ship exposed to Covid-19, the new coronavirus, quarantined on the vessel — not for public safety reasons or to reduce the spread of the disease — but so that they wouldn’t count as American cases of the illness.

“I like the numbers being where they are,” Trump said. “I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship! That wasn’t our fault. And it wasn’t the fault of the people on the ship either.” Continue reading.

Trump says thousands with coronavirus could go to work and get better as CDC says ‘do not go to work’

AlterNet logoRunning roughshod over the advice of trained medical professionals and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, President Donald Trump Wednesday night suggested to millions of Fox News viewers that people infected with coronavirus could still go to work and recover, comments that were immediately condemned as irresponsible and dangerous.

“A lot of people will have this and it’s very mild. They’ll get better very rapidly,” Trump told Fox‘s Sean Hannity. “They don’t even see a doctor, they don’t even call a doctor. You never hear about those people.”

“So you can’t put them down in the category of the overall population in terms of this corona flu and/or virus,” Trump continued. “So you just can’t do that. So, if, you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work. Some of them go to work, but they get better.” Continue reading.

CDC under fire for not releasing information on how coronavirus patients recovered

AlterNet logoThe CDC is again falling short of its responsibilities under the impending coronavirus pandemic. The agency that was once considered the best public health agency in the world for preventing the spread of infectious disease has withered under President Donald Trump, who installed as the head of the CDC a physician who “has no experience leading a public health agency.”

First the CDC botched the coronavirus test. The CDC insisted on creating and producing its own test rather than using one from the World Health Organization. Then it produced a faulty one that renders the test useless.

That likely explains why less than 500 people in the U.S. have been tested for COVID-19, while in other countries the number of people tested is dramatically higher. South Korea, according to the CDC, has tested 70,940 people as of Feb. 28. Continue reading.

Inside Trump’s frantic attempts to minimize the coronavirus crisis

Washington Post logoMinutes before President Trump was preparing Wednesday to reassure a skittish nation about the coronavirus threat, he received a piece of crucial information: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had identified in California the first U.S. case of the illness not tied to foreign travel, a sign that the virus’s spread in the United States was likely to explode.

But when Trump took to the lectern for a news conference intended to bring transparency to the spiraling global crisis, he made no explicit mention of the California case and its implications — and falsely suggested the virus might soon be eradicated in the United States.

“And again, when you have 15 people — and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero — that’s a pretty good job we’ve done,” he said. Continue reading.

NYT reporter rNYT reporter reveals the stunning reason Trump believed coronavirus would disappear next month

AlterNet logoOn CNN Thursday, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman revealed that President Donald Trump is angry about his administration’s coronavirus response — in part because he misunderstood what the experts told him about the disease and thought they meant it was going to go away soon.

“The president has been very frustrated with the public messaging of this from his administration, but not for the reasons that people necessarily think,” said Haberman. “It’s because there were experts who were saying one thing from the CDC, which was that there is this problem growing, and then he was trying to tamp this down in his own comments, and he keeps saying something that, as I understand it, is a misinterpretation of what he was told in a briefing, which was that viruses tend to decrease in numbers in terms of spread during warmer weather. He has taken that and put his own spin on it which is, it’s going to stop by April. He’s been telling people that for a while.”

“He was very concerned when he was in India, as he was watching the stock market fall,” added Haberman. “He was calling aides, wanting them to say something public that was going to try to quell the nerves. That obviously didn’t happen, or didn’t happen to the degree he wanted.” Continue reading.

Spread of coronavirus in U.S. appears inevitable, health officials warn, as Trump defends response

Washington Post logoHealth officials in the United States warned Tuesday that the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country appears inevitable, marking a significant change in tone as global travel disruptions continued to worsen, South Korea exceeded 1,000 cases, Italy saw a 45 percent one-day increase in cases, and Iran reported at least 15 deaths.

China and South Korea announced new cases of the coronavirus, raising concerns in both nations about how long it could take for normal life to return. South Korea confirmed 144 more cases, bringing its total to 977, the most outside China. President Moon Jae-in visited the city of Daegu, where more than half of the country’s confirmed cases have been found, Tuesday afternoon local time.

In Italy, the epicenter of Europe’s outbreak, the death toll rose to 11 amid 322 confirmed infections. Austria, Croatia and Switzerland reported their first cases, most of which health authorities linked to Italy. Continue reading.

Trump’s presidency may be making Latinos sick

Washington Post logoDonald Trump’s presidency may be making some people sick, a growing number of studies suggest. Researchers have begun to identify correlations between Trump’s election and worsening cardiovascular health, sleep problems, anxiety and stress, especially among Latinos in the United States.

A study published Friday using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the risk of premature birth was higher than expected among Latina women following Trump’s election. The new study is particularly powerful, experts say, because unlike ailments such as depression or stress that can be hard to quantify, births come with hard data.

“You have a date when the baby should have been born and when it actually is. You have weight, length of stay at hospital. It’s extremely objective data,” said Kjersti Aagaard, an OB/GYN researcher at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital who was not associated with the study.

View the complete July 19 article by William Wan and Lindsey Never on The Washington Post website here.

Five questions about the new Trump budget and health issues

The following article by Rachel Robein was posted on the Hill website February 11, 2018:

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The White House is expected to release its fiscal 2019 budget request on Monday, and health advocates will be watching closely to see if this year’s proposal will contain deep cuts to the agencies charged with bolstering public health and finding cures for complex diseases.

Lawmakers from both parties are also waiting to see if the budget will propose major changes to the anti-drug office that have already sparked an outcry.

The release of President Trump’s budget last year set off a firestorm of criticism in the health world from science and public health advocates — and even some disapproval from fellow Republicans. Continue reading “Five questions about the new Trump budget and health issues”