What's Going On With the CDC?
- fionacsweet
- Aug 27, 2020
- 2 min read
The federal government is now backtracking on previous recommendations issued by the CDC, according to a statement released late Wednesday from the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This COVID-19 testing guidance posted to the CDC website on Monday suggested that people exposed to the coronavirus "do not necessarily need a test" unless they are experiencing symptoms, are older, or otherwise medically vulnerable.
In a new statement, the CDC's director, Dr. Robert Redfield, now says that "all close contacts of confirmed or probable COVID-19 patients" may consider testing. An infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, said what we were all thinking: "Dr. Redfield appears to have walked back from that a little bit."
But why is that?
Former CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden said that "I think this is a black eye for the CDC. They've got materials on their website that really can't be scientifically justified."
This previous recommendation was met with a lot of backlash. The White House Coronavirus Task Force finalized this change one week ago - the same day that one of its members (Dr. Anthony Fauci) was having surgery. On Wednesday, a spokesperson from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, which Fauci leads, said that Fauci recalled "quickly reviewing a version of the guidelines" that had circulated previously. "At the time he was not struck by the potential implications of this particular change in the version he reviewed," the spokesperson said. "Now reading them carefully, he has some concern that the revised guidelines could be interpreted as lessening the importance of asymptomatic spread of virus in the community." Suffice it to say, Dr. Fauci, and many other infectious disease experts, do not agree with the new guidelines.
Redfield has said that this latest guidance was an attempt to place an "emphasis on testing individuals with symptomatic illness." However, we have been testing everyone who has been in contact with a COVID-19 patient, and that is a tried-and-true method of infectious disease control. I personally don't see why we would change that now.
I am still slightly concerned as the CDC website has still not been updated with the most current information, as it still states the incorrect testing information that caused a kerfluffle. Hopefully, they fix that soon and testing will go back to normal. Have a great Thursday guys! We are almost to the weekend! And remember if you sneeze, catch it in your elbow! (Although, our masks pretty much take care of that now.)
Wow so we’ve officially moved away from Danny