Stomping on scientific integrity instead of stopping COVID-19
The White House campaign against public health and science continues with an "inexplicable" guideline that discourages COVID-19 testing. Meantime, more kids are getting infected at reopened schools
The odd change to COVID-19 testing guidelines, without official explanation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, raised the ugly spectre that the White House may be pressuring the CDC to change health guidelines for reasons other than health or science. Hours later, this has proven out to be true. The White House Coronavirus Task Force apparently directed the guidelines change last week. Note that it goes directly against what public health experts have long advocated: testing to screen for undiagnosed, asymptomatic COVID-19 is an essential step to keeping the infection from spreading.
On top of Sunday’s bizarre FDA announcement, complete with grossly inaccurate claims to support it, and Monday’s reports that the president was angling to get a COVID-19 vaccine cleared before full Phase 3 studies were completed, those of us who advocate for public health have reason to be even more alarmed than ever. More reasons for reporters and all of us to ask questions and look at the evidence behind any health-related claims by anyone.
Puzzling CDC guideline against COVID testing: On direction from the White House, the CDC now says that a person who might have had exposure to COVID-19 but has no symptoms no longer needs to be tested for the virus. The head-scratcher here is that perhaps 40% of COVID-19 cases are spread by people who do not (or don’t recognize that they) have symptoms. CNN quotes an unnamed federal official attributing the change to political pressure. Former CDC official Michael Osterholm said he was “dumbfounded,” and former CDC Director Tom Frieden said it was “unexplained, inexplicable, probably indefensible.” Osterholm says his CDC contacts confirmed that this change was not based on any new scientific data and fears that this will lead to an increased spread of COVID-19.
Florida recorded 9,000 new COVID-19 infections among children in the past two weeks, associated with schools opening.
COVID-19 adds to rural health crisis: Kaiser Health News reports on how rural hospitals are among the pandemic’s victims. At least 14 hospitals have closed this year, on a pace that almost certainly will pass last year’s record number, 19, that shut their doors. In normal times, deaths in surrounding areas increase when a rural hospital closes. During a pandemic, it could be worse.
Many of the nation’s COVID-19 cases are traced back to travelers from New York City in March, before the extent of the virus’ presence both there and in Europe was fully understood.