"COVID proved the CDC is broken. Can it be fixed?"

Last update: Wednesday 3/30/22 

In June 2021, the NY Times published a powerful op ed by Jeneen Interlandi that everyone must skim (for at least five minutes), but some should read every word. It's a "TLDR" for most folks ("Too long; didn't read"), but its core message must be grasped by anyone who wants to understand why the U.S. continues to botch its handling of the pandemic so badly.

Yes, President Trump bears ultimate responsibility for what happened in 2020. By mid 2021, the editor of this blog had posted a few notes that documented some of the CDC's blunders while Trump was president, but he didn't understand why it continued to perform so badly under President Biden. Ms. Interlandi's op ed made everything clear.

She provided a comprehensive, depressing look inside an agency that was underfunded and in a state of permanent disarray. The CDC was deeply dysfunctional and had been so long before Donald Trump was elected. The editor of this blog has continued to post notes that continue to document the CDC's continuing dysfunction under President Biden. Unfortunately, President Biden seems to think that appointing a brilliant, telegenic new director would resolve the CDC's problems, It didn't. Indeed, the media has begun to mumble that the CDC's new director is the problem. She isn't. 

If we're lucky, the virus won't surprise us with new variants that are not only more transmissible, but are substantially more lethal than Omicron. If we are so lucky, we just might bumble our way back to some semblance of normal living under the CDC's continuing misguidance. But the gods help us if we aren't ... :-(

• "COVID proved the CDC is broken. Can it be fixed?", Jeneen Interland, NY Times, 6/16/21

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Links to related notes on this blog:  

• "Strategic implications of some basic facts about the CDC", Last update: 3/19/22