Tag: Robert Redfield

House panel subpoenas for Azar, Redfield CDC documents

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Top Trump administration health officials were subpoenaed by House Democrats on Monday, after an investigation showed “extensive” political interference with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Over a period of four months, as coronavirus cases and deaths rose around the country, Trump Administration appointees attempted to alter or block at least 13 scientific reports related to the virus,” the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis said a letter.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), said he is seeking full, unredacted documents from Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar and CDC Director Robert Redfield, after “HHS has made clear that it will not provide a timely and complete response to the Select Subcommittee’s requests on a voluntary basis.” Continue reading.

CDC chief defends failure to spot early coronavirus spread in U.S.

Washington Post logoRobert R. Redfield says diagnostic testing would have made little difference, describing it like ‘looking for a needle in a haystack’

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday defended the agency’s failure to find early spread of the coronavirus in the United States, noting that surveillance systems “kept eyes” on the disease.

“We were never really blind when it came to surveillance” for covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, CDC chief Robert R. Redfield said. Even if widespread diagnostic testing had been in place, it would have been like “looking for a needle in a haystack,” he said.

Redfield was among three CDC officials who spoke with reporters Friday about a comprehensive analysis by the agency that found the coronavirus began spreading in the United States as early as the second half of January, eluding detection by public health surveillance systems that help monitor for early signs of novel contagions. Continue reading.

U.S. on pace to pass 100,000 Covid-19 deaths by June 1, CDC director says

This marks the first time Robert Redfield has explicitly addressed the grim milestone.

The United States is heading toward more than 100,000 coronavirus deaths by June 1, with leading mortality forecasts still trending upward, CDC Director Robert Redfield tweeted on Friday.

His assessment cited 12 different models tracked by his agency and marked the first time Redfield has explicitly addressed the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths, even as the Trump administration turns its strategy toward reopening the economy. The CDC director has been mostly sidelined in the government’s public-facing response to the Covid-19 pandemic

Redfield shared weekly forecast data the agency culls from models run by 12 top institutions including Columbia University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They show the cumulative reported coronavirus deaths since February and made projections for the next four weeks in the United States. Continue reading.

CDC director tries to walk back remarks on coronavirus

The Hill logoCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield on Wednesday tried to temper remarks he made about the threat of a second wave of the novel coronavirus, saying the thrust of his comments was meant to urge Americans to embrace the vaccine for the flu.

“I didn’t say that this was going to be worse. I said it was going to be more difficult and potentially more complicated because we would have flu and coronavirus circulating at the same time,” Redfield said at the top of a White House briefing Wednesday evening.

The CDC director’s comments came hours after President Trump complained about a Washington Post report from Tuesday that included the top health official’s remarks, saying the CDC chief would make a clarifying statement. 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.