Four former CDC directors said Tuesday that the Trump administration’s undermining of public health officials has led to a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections and deaths.
In a Washington Post op-ed, the former public health officials — who collectively served in the top CDC post for 15 years under presidents of both parties — accused the Trump administration of politicizing public health information, especially around the looming school year.
“As the debate last week around reopening schools more safely showed, these repeated efforts to subvert sound public health guidelines introduce chaos and uncertainty while unnecessarily putting lives at risk,” wrote the former CDC directors — Tom Frieden, Jeffrey Koplan, David Satcher and Richard Besser.
Trump publicly disagreed with the CDC’s school reopening guidance, saying it asked schools “to do very impractical things.” Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have made noise about, somehow, cutting funds to schools that do not reopen. Education Secretary Betsty DeVos has rigorously maintained the party line: “The rule should be that kids go back to school this fall,” she said in an interview Sunday — while dodging questions on whether schools should follow CDC guidelines.
The current CDC director, Robert Redfield, said in response to the pressure that the current guidelines would stay as-is.
The scientific work of thousands of experts at the CDC, the former directors wrote, “is being challenged with partisan potshots, sowing confusion and mistrust at a time when the American people need leadership, expertise and clarity.”
“We’re seeing the terrible effect of undermining the CDC play out in our population,” they argued. “Willful disregard for public health guidelines is, unsurprisingly, leading to a sharp rise in infections and deaths. America now stands as a global outlier in the coronavirus pandemic.”
The former public health officials called for educational leaders to follow the CDC guidance, and said more funding was needed to reopen schools safely — especially in Black, Latino and Native American communities disproportionately affected by the virus.
“Trying to fight this pandemic while subverting scientific expertise is like fighting blindfolded,” they wrote. “How well and how quickly we adhere to the advice of public health experts at the CDC will determine whether, how soon and how safely our schools can reopen.”
This, of course, is good for getting a few stragglers who mistakenly voted for Trump in 2016.
For me, it is good for focusing on the criminality of Donald Trump.
Former CDC directors agree TRump is causing deaths.
A thousand former prosecutors agree that Trump obstructed justice.
Former military leaders agree that Trump is a danger to America’s safety.
Multitudes of former State Dept personnel agree that Trump is destroying America’s reputation and power on the world stage.
Most world leaders agree that Trump is a buffoon.
Hundreds of former high level Republicans agree that Trump is a clear and present danger to American democracy.
Could someone please explain to me why this guy is still in office?
Trump wants to be reelected. So he wants a strong, vibrant economy. And he also wants fewer people voting for his opponent than him. He is trying to achieve this by forcing children back into their schools so their parents can go back to work and we can all get infected while also reducing the number of urban voters in the Fall due to COVID-19 death or maiming.
That is exactly what his calculus comes down to. He gives less than a shit about anyone other than himself. We are all expendable.
Isn’t it rather odd that we could all be much better off if we just all wore masks in public for the next three weeks? We could very significantly choke off the spread of this virus. It makes no sense not to do it. So why is Trump fighting that? Simple. He wants prosperity AND disease to gain reelection. It is germ warfare against those parts of the electoral map that lean against him.
I am not an American politician and am as much at a loss as you are, but from what it looks like, Mitch McConnell is the primary obstruction to Trump’s removal.
There is Barr…there are the judges Trump installed…there is the ravenous Base
Of the latter three, the Base seems to be what McConnell is depending on for his power, provided they can cheat.
The GOP Senate has held firm.
With luck, covid-19 will be a water shed moment like the late 70’s stagflation that brought us, with a little help from the Iranian revolutionary government, Saint Ronnie.
Hopefully, the swing this time will be back towards collective action and trust in expertise.
Perhaps, it will come in time to deal effectively with global environmental degradation.