Frustrated CDC employees and public health experts are sounding alarms about the Atlanta-based agency, worried that its own leadership has irreparably damaged its standing and influence by undermining the scientists battling the pandemic.
Too often, some inside and outside the CDC say, Director Robert Redfield has been hesitant when decisive action was needed, largely absent from the national stage when the public was looking for leadership, and acquiescent when asked to bend to political considerations.
“I’ve heard much more in the media from (Dr. Tom) Frieden, former head of CDC, during the COVID-19 response than Redfield. Where’s Redfield?” a long-time employee told the AJC. “I’m also disturbed Redfield hasn’t spoken up when Trump says something outrageous and possibly dangerous. He’s contributed to a weak federal response.”
The situation has taken a personal toll as skepticism of the CDC builds on social media, the staffer said. “It’s tough to have family and friends (some I haven’t heard from in years) call to ask why CDC was so slow to respond, why they insisted on developing their own tests, or why CDC-reported numbers don’t seem to mesh with other data sources,” the employee said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the federal government strictly prohibits employees from talking to the news media without authorization.
Public health experts told the AJC they’re worried that compromised science has crippled the nation’s diseases-fighting arm during the worst pandemic in a century, creating delays and confusion that likely led to more deaths. They question whether Redfield is the right leader to address agency failings that the pandemic revealed and restore its battered credibility.