During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people wanted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to just shut up and go away. They were mad at the CDC for being the bearer of bad news.
But that’s stupid. That’s like being mad at your oncologist for telling you that you have cancer. What are they supposed to do, pretend like there’s nothing wrong?
Now, I don’t trust the CDC either. It’s not because they’re always telling me hard truths that I don’t want to hear. It’s because I no longer believe that they are always telling me the truth. It seems to me that lately, the CDC has been basing what it says about COVID-19 on politics rather than science.
On March 1, the CDC released new guidelines stating that people with COVID-19 no longer need to stay home as long as they have been fever-free for at least twenty-four hours without the aid of medication, and if their symptoms are mild and improving. Previously, the CDC recommended that those testing positive for the disease should isolate themselves and avoid contact with others for five days.
The agency said it changed its counsel to “provide updated guidance proportionate to the current level of risk COVID-19 poses while balancing other critical health and societal needs.”
In response, Maria Town, the president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), resoundingly criticized the new guidelines, explaining that changing the isolation periods “does not change how the virus behaves. Instead, it ignores the reality of this virus and the risk of spread in so-called ‘mild’ or ‘symptom-free’ cases. Mild COVID is still COVID. A person who has COVID without a fever still has COVID. And that means they are still posing a risk to the high-risk, immunocompromised, and disabled members of their community.”
The CDC claims that the more relaxed guidelines put this policy more in line with those already in effect in California and Oregon, where COVID-19 test positivity rates, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations have been lower than the national average.
I can’t argue with the CDC on scientific grounds. I’m not a scientist. But I can’t help but suspect that when the agency says it is balancing “critical health and societal needs,” that really means they are succumbing to the nonsense of capitalists who want to eviscerate public health entities because their messages can get in the way of making profits.
“The solution for economic and labor market repercussions of five-day isolation periods,” as Town wrote in the AAPD statement, “is for federal, state, and local governments to mandate employers provide paid sick and family leave for those who have COVID-19, or who are caring for a loved-one who has COVID-19. The answer is not to reduce isolation times and expose others to infection.”
Believe me; I don’t want to return to the lockdown days. I felt as claustrophobic about it as everyone else. But the CDC is acting like the threat posed by COVID-19 has waned so significantly that there isn’t much anyone should do about it anymore. I sure wish I could believe them.