Republican lawmakers blasted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky during a Senate hearing, with one lawmaker complaining about “conflicting, confusing guidance” from the U.S. health agency.
“I always considered the CDC to be the gold standard. I don’t anymore,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said during a Capitol Hill hearing Tuesday.
Collins told Walensky that she “used to have the utmost respect for the guidance from the CDC” but now feels it has issued “conflicting, confusing guidance” that has contradicted health officials or other findings by experts.
She accused the agency of “exaggerating” the risk of transmission of COVID-19.
“So, here we have unnecessary barriers to reopening schools, exaggerating the risks of outdoor transmission, and unworkable restrictions on summer camps. Why does this matter?” Collins asked. “It matters because it undermines public confidence in your recommendation, in the recommendations that do make sense, in the recommendations that Americans should be following.”
Collins remarks came the same day as reports emerged that the CDC is has been exaggerating the risk of COVID-19 transmission outdoors. The CDC has said there is roughly a 10% of catching the virus outdoors, but experts now say that risk is less than 1%.
The 10%-figure “seems to be a huge exaggeration,” Dr. Muge Cevik, a top infectious disease doctor at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, told The New York Times. Dr. Aaron Richterman of the University of Pennsylvania added, “I’m sure it’s possible for transmission to occur outdoors in the right circumstances. But if we had to put a number on it, I would say much less than 1 percent.”
“Saying that less than 10 percent of Covid transmission occurs outdoors is akin to saying that sharks attack fewer than 20,000 swimmers a year. (The actual worldwide number is around 150.) It’s both true and deceiving,” The Times wrote.
The CDC reportedly based its outdoor transmission figure on research that came from cases at construction sites in Singapore, the Times said. The CDC responded to the Times report, saying: “The data we do have supports the hypothesis that the risk of outdoor transmission is low. 10 percent is a conservative estimate from a recent systemic review of peer-reviewed papers. It is important for people and communities to consider their own situations and risks and to take appropriate steps to protect their health.”
U.S. health officials have gotten much wrong about the virus. First, officials said there was no need to wear a mask. Later, they said masks were crucial to stemming the spread of COVID-19. Of course, there was little known about the novel coronavirus at the beginning, but that didn’t stop officials from issuing edicts.
At the hearing, other Republican senators pressed Walenksy and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci over continued restrictions, especially mask mandates.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a physician, hit the CDC, telling Walensky that the American people “are starting to disregard what you say is true.”
“The American people have just lost patience with us, with you guys,” Cassidy said. “I would ask you to be aware of their frustrations and get a little real time into updating these things. I am sorry to be so frustrated.”
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Source: Dailywire
