CDC Director Rochelle Walensky Acknowledges Poor Messaging of Agency's Guidance; Dr. Fauci Says Omicron Variant May Not Be the End of Pandemic

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rochelle Walensky, on Monday, acknowledged the poor messaging of the agency regarding their COVID-19 guidance.

Walensky acknowledged CDC's flaws during an interview with the Wall Street Journal, claiming that she should have made it clearer that the guidelines announced by the agency are "subject to change," Fox News reported.

"I think what I have not conveyed is the uncertainty in a lot of these situations," Walensky said in the interview, adding that the pandemic "threw curveballs," which she claimed that she should have anticipated.

The CDC director then committed to communicating the agency's policy "more clearly." The director then noted that she is set to hold more media briefings and that she is being coached by a media consultant.

It can be recalled that CDC updated the quarantine guidelines in December, announcing that infected Americans would need to isolate for only five days instead of 10 and that a negative test result would not be needed at the end of isolation if the patient no longer experience symptoms of COVID-19.

The guidance garnered criticisms as the guideline caused confusion, with public experts saying that CDC stumbled by not specifying the need for a negative test result after the isolation.

In the interview, Walensky explained that "rapidly evolving science" was behind the change in CDC's guidance. Last week, the CDC director also noted in a Senate hearing that the changes symbolize the "swift science-based action" in addressing the possibility of staffing shortages.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on COVID Data Collection

In the interview, Rochelle Walensky also noted that the Biden administration is supporting their agency in collecting the national data of COVID-19 positive patients.

Walensky revealed that tens of thousands of facilities upgraded their record-keeping during the pandemic and that fewer than 200 health facilities across the U.S. have the electronic health record linked to CDC.

However, Healthcare and Information and Management Systems Society acknowledged that modernizing the public health data infrastructure would cost billions of dollars over 10 years.

Fauci on Omicron Variant

Walensky's comment about the poor messaging of her agency came as Dr. Fauci said on the Davos Agenda Virtual Event Monday that it was too soon to say that Omicron will mark the final wave of the pandemic.

Dr. Fauci noted that it is still an "open question" whether Omicron will be the "live vaccination," hoped by the public, as it was found to be "less severe" than other variants.

The nation's top infectious disease expert noted that the end of the pandemic would only become possible if there is no new variant that will evade the immune response of the previous variant.

Fauci also reiterated that it is unlikely for coronavirus to be eliminated entirely, but it will remain in society at the "endemic" level, explaining that the virus is endemic when it will not "disrupt" the normal interactions of the people.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

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