“Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, described low morale among staff at the agency after Donald Trump spent months downplaying the severity of COVID-19, flouting the agency’s recommendations, and sidelining public health experts.”
“In an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Wednesday, Walensky said staff at the CDC have been ‘muzzled, they have been beaten down, but they are still there, and they are working hard, long hours.’”
“Walensky, formerly chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, described staff at the agency as ‘career public health officials, stewards of the health of this nation and really of the world’ who are ‘doing the hard work that is about to protect the rest of the country and that has been working to protect the rest of the country.'”
“The Trump administration has been widely criticized for its bungled response to the pandemic, with the United States leading the world in COVID-19 cases and deaths. Trump spent months trying to minimize the deadly virus, comparing it to the flu, predicting it would just ‘disappear,’ refusing to follow or promote mitigation measures suggested by the CDC like wearing masks, and pushing for businesses to reopen…” Read the full article here.
Source: New CDC chief Rochelle Walensky says staff at agency have been ‘muzzled’ and ‘beaten down’ – By Amanda Kaufman, February 4, 2021. Boston Globe.
