Posted on 03/26/2020 2:22:14 PM PDT by Hojczyk
The documents — mostly emails — provide a behind-the-scenes peek into the messy early stages of the U.S. response to the coronavirus, revealing an antiquated public health system trying to adapt on the fly. What comes through clearly is confusion, as the CDC underestimated the threat from the virus and stumbled in communicating to local public health officials what should be done.
For much of February, the CDC kept a tight grip on who should be tested for the coronavirus, a strategy that has been criticized by epidemiologists for limiting the ability to track the spread of the disease.
In a Feb. 19 presentation to state health officials, CDC described the definition of a person who ought to be tested: You had to have had close contact with someone confirmed to have COVID-19, or to have traveled from China and then had respiratory symptoms and a fever at the same time.
the CDC’s own guidance from a month prior, distributed to the states on Jan. 17, had a footnote that said that “fever may not be present in some patients,” such as people who had taken fever-lowering medications, according to one of the documents obtained by ProPublica. That caveat was not on the slides presented to the states in mid-February.
By that point, it was clear that the coronavirus was gaining ground within the country, even if the inability to test for it was obscuring the true numbers. Physicians and public health experts begged for more tests while warning that thousands of cases would soon emerge.
Still, Redfield’s March 3 email struck a reassuring note.
“Confronting global outbreaks and protecting Americans is what we do,” Redfield wrote in the message. “More and more, people are turning to us for guidance, and we respond consistently with evidence-based information and professionalism.”
(Excerpt) Read more at propublica.org ...
But how do they rate on green policy and social consciousness?
/s
Bookmark
Don’t’ forget that China called back ships carrying vital supplies that would have helped us early now!
Don’t forget! We gave the chinks that prerogative when we moved manufacturing there in order to save fifty cents on a pair of flip flops.
I think this is a left wing site..but there not very happy with the CDC
The CDC is a bureaucracy with its own set of values and goals that don’t necessarily include public safety or epidemic response. CDCers are timeservers and worried about enhancing their careers and retirements than doing any sort of medical job.
The CDC had seven years of the Obama Administration to apply the lessons learned from the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic. They didn’t do it.
Propublica is the mouthpiece of George Soros.
I’ll never read their propaganda.
1/3 of CDC employees are Obama "affirmative action" hires. The color of your skin mattered more than your qualifications.
Thank The Lord! He installed Donald Trump at the helm to oversee things when a brilliant mind was needed to manage the ship of state
Between this and the earlier post about NYC’s response to the outbreak, it looks like ProPublica is having a stopped clock moment...
Very few medical doctors in the organization.
Its also a mish-mash of non-similar organizations, e.g, NIOSH -National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health, & old Bureau of mines technical personnel.
Pretty much what I thought, given some of the incompetence stories over the years.
I worked with the CDC, including their leadership, the PHS leadership, HHS, etc. during the H1N1 crisis and aftermath. This matches my observations on that occasion. Looks like that their behavior has not changed.
My professional experiences in dealing with the FAA and FCC is they are terrified of making a decision. As long as they never make a decision or sign their name to something, they can’t be blamed if it goes wrong. (I detested dealing with both. My suspicion from having known state employees is they are the same way. Not ever doing anything you can be blamed for, including your job, seems to be how you survive in government.)
I can’t imagine the CDC or any other government organization is any different.
Me thinks when all is said and done, they’re gonna blame Trump & try to impeach him again.
What??? Someone expects a government worker bureaucracy to something quickly, efficiently and reasonably? When that occurs is extremely rare....and usually by “accident”.
Maybe the government “workers” were either watching too much porn during “working hours” or sitting around figuring out their retirement benefits...and couldn’t be bothered.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.