CDC’s guidance report for “Opening up America Again’ shelved by Trump administration

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Trump’s administration held-off a CDC report that contains specific directions for local authorities and other sectors on how to reopen their spaces amid COVID-19 threat.
• Health experts were saying that it is the role of the CDC to supervise guidance related to health crises, but the administration currently has the control.
• According to a person close to the White House coronavirus task force, the document was not approved by the CDC leadership for public release; White House officials retracted from offering specific guidance.

President Donald Trump’s administration held off a 17-page document containing step-by-step process on how to and when to reopen establishments and other public places amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The report was created by the country’s top disease experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) team. It aimed to guide local and state officials, faith leaders, business owners and educators in reopening their respective public spaces.

According to a CDC official, the guidance was supposed to be published last Friday, however, agency scientists were told that it “would never see the light of day.”

Prior to the White House’s decision to hold the document, the guidance was already described in The Associate Press’ stories last week after the news agency was able to secure a copy from an unauthorized federal official.

The CDC should have been the one providing public and local officials with directions related to the health crisis. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it did not have any regular virus-related news briefing in almost two months.

Instead, the current administration has been taking charge in gate-keeping publications of guidance and information during the outbreak, with the president himself leading the daily briefings until last week. Dr. Robert Redfield, the agency’s director, is part of the White House COVID-19 task force, but was absent in most briefings.

Incumbent and former government health officials think that the absence of real-time, public information from the country’s experts is dangerous.

According to Dr. Howard Koh, a Harvard professor and former health official in the Obama administration during the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009, “CDC has always been the public health agency Americans turn to in a time of crisis.”

“The standard in a crisis is to turn to them for the latest data and latest guidance and the latest press briefing. That has not occurred, and everyone sees that,” he said.

An anonymous individual, who is close to the White House’s coronavirus task force, said that the report was not approved by the CDC leadership for public release and that White House officials retracted to offer detailed guidance for how various sectors should reopen as the impact of the virus varies depending on the location.

The report obtained specific information on how to execute necessary guidance related to reopening schools, restaurants, summer camps, churches, day care centers and other institutions. Some guidance was already uploaded on federal websites. Though the report offered tailored-fit recommendation for every type of reopening.

Source: The Guardian