Tuesday, September 22, 2020

If you didn't already know, you're on your own

It's impossible to trust this administration about anything, up to and including your life.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday retracted new guidance on how the coronavirus spreads, raising questions about whether the guidelines were removed for political reasons.

The CDC on Friday published guidance indicating that the novel coronavirus could spread through aerosol droplets, acknowledging that the virus could transmit beyond six feet and suggesting that proper indoor ventilation is a key way to slow the spread of the virus.

The CDC said the virus was known to spread “through respiratory droplets or small particles, such as those in aerosols, produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks or breathes.”

The update was not publicly announced, but it was first noticed by CNN on Sunday.

By Monday morning, the agency had removed the language on airborne spread from its website and reverted to the previous guidance.

At the top of the webpage, the CDC explained the guidance on airborne transmission was a “draft” that had been “posted in error” and that the CDC was still updating its recommendations regarding airborne transmission.

  The Hill
It was probably a hail Mary thrown up by a concerned staffer.
“The CDC just published scientifically valid information and then pulled it off their website and this is very likely a scandal,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) tweeted Monday.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), a member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, responded: “One way or another, we’re going to investigate it and find out.”

[...]

Olivia Troye, a former aide to Vice President Pence and the White House coronavirus task force, tweeted she has seen some of these “changes” in guidelines occur firsthand.

“This is likely what happened: @CDCgov tried to warn & tell the truth, it didn’t fit the President’s narrative & someone got an angry call. This is so dangerous for the American people,” Troye wrote.
Of course, this is just the latest such incident.
Last Friday, the CDC revised controversial guidance from August that stated people without COVID-19 symptoms did not necessarily need to be tested, even if they had close contact with confirmed cases.

The original language was deleted, and the update was applauded by public health experts, who warned that the CDC’s changes last month would be a step backward in the nation’s COVID-19 response.

The New York Times reported that the initial change in guidance was written by Department of Health and Human Services officials — the CDC’s parent agency — and not by scientists. The August guidance was posted despite objections from CDC scientists, according to the Times.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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