Four former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday blasted President Donald Trump for having “undermined” the agency’s guidance on reopening schools during the coronavirus crisis.
Former Directors Tom Frieden, Jeffrey Koplan and David Satcher, along with former acting Director Richard Besser, denounced Trump’s actions in an opinion piece published by The Washington Post on Tuesday.
They note that the CDC guidelines on schools “have not been altered” despite attempts “to undermine” the agency.
“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,” they continue.
“It is not unusual for CDC guidelines to be changed or amended during a clearance process that moves through multiple agencies and the White House. But it is extraordinary for guidelines to be undermined after their release. Through last week, and into Monday, the administration continued to cast public doubt on the agency’s recommendations and role in informing and guiding the nation’s pandemic response.”
The former directors specifically note that “Education Secretary Betsy DeVos characterized the CDC guidelines as an impediment to reopening schools quickly rather than what they are: the path to doing so safely.”
They add, “One of the many contributions the CDC provides our country is sound public health guidance that states and communities can adapt to their local context — expertise even more essential during a pandemic, when uncertainty is the norm. The four of us led the CDC over a period of more than 15 years, spanning Republican and Democratic administrations alike. We cannot recall over our collective tenure a single time when political pressure led to a change in the interpretation of scientific evidence.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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