In the first weeks of the U.S. coronavirus epidemic, staff at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had followed an increasing number of transmissions in Europe and elsewhere, and offered a global advisory that would alert travelers to the dangers of air travel.
But about a week passed before the alert went public - crucial time wasted when around 66,000 European travelers flock to US airports every day.
The delay, detailed in documents obtained by CNN, is the latest example to emerge from a growing feeling of disconnection between the CDC and the White House.
In interviews with CNN, CDC officials said their agency's efforts to organize a coordinated response to the Covid-19 pandemic have been hampered by a White House whose decisions are driven by politics rather than science .
The result compounded the effects of the crisis, sources within the CDC said, relegating the 73-year-old agency that has traditionally led the national response to infectious diseases to a supporting role.
The mounting tension between the CDC leadership and the White House over the perception that the agency has been sidelined has been a developing story in the media for weeks. But now middle and senior staff within the agency - six of whom have spoken to CNN for this story - are starting to express their dissatisfaction. These six people spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
"We have been muzzled," said a current CDC official. "What is difficult is that if we had acted earlier on what we knew and recommended, we would have saved lives and money."
Learn more here. Source link
