The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) appears to have gone through great lengths this week to undermine their credibility with the American public. This week's guidelines direct teachers, staff, and students at K-12 schools wear masks, regardless of vaccination status. In so-called hotspots, people are being advised to wear masks indoors, even if they're fully vaccinated. A letter from 47 House members, led by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) is thus looking for the CDC to "publicize this data" which the agency has "not been transparent with" and "explain how it justifies a blanket and open-ended policy," as first reported by Fox News' Tyer Olson.
Read the full letter here: pic.twitter.com/VRR4DEC0c0
— Rep. Gallagher Press Office (@RepGallagher) July 30, 2021
The letter does not mince words. The opening paragraph warns that because the CDC "has not been transparent with" data, it's thus "sowing confusion and distrust."
It specifically seeks clarity on how the CDC has been able to make proper and reliable predictions from the data if they've shifted to collecting data on breakthrough cases. The letter notes the members "are deeply concerned that you have released blanket guidance seeking to reduce this transmission when you have not yet even provided data on the frequency of breakthrough infections to the public."
"If your agency cannot even provide reliable predictions about current transmission, we question your ability to estimate the extent to which breakthrough infections are expected to drive the overall number of cases among the unvaccinated," the letter also writes.
"We worry this shifting mask guidance and lack of transparency signals the CDC does not have a plan to show the American people what benchmarks need to be achieved to bring their lives back to normal," the letter in part closes with before laying out questions for Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director.
Questions asked of her include:
1. Does the CDC have reliable data that show the number of breakthrough COVID-19 infections in the U.S. since January 2021? If so, please provide them.
2. Does the CDC have reliable models that estimate the extent to which breakthrough infections are expected to drive the overall number of COVID-19 cases? If so, please provide them.
3. How did these data and models inform your decision on July 27, 2021 to revise mask guidance for vaccinated Americans? If these data and models did not inform your decision, please provide the data and models that did.
4. If current U.S. vaccination rates do not significantly increase in the coming months, what transmission, hospitalization, death, or other metrics will need to be met for CDC to rescind the mask guidance for vaccinated Americans issued on July 27, 2021.
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One of the earliest and most prolific reactions came from Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) who in a Twitter thread condemned the CDC for basing their guidance on a study from India which failed to get peer-review status.
The study that influenced this decision? It followed healthcare workers who were vaccinated with a vaccine NOT EVEN APPROVED IN THE U.S.
— Rep. Dan Crenshaw (@RepDanCrenshaw) July 28, 2021
That’s right. So they’re not even using a comparable case study that can be applied to vaccinated Americans.
And here is the real kicker: the Administration has NO EVIDENCE proving vaccinated people transmit the virus. Zero. None.
— Rep. Dan Crenshaw (@RepDanCrenshaw) July 28, 2021
They even admit it! Read their pathetic justification: pic.twitter.com/JzxeaN6EWn
As Olson further reported:
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky has said that the unpublished data the agency has seen – which the Associated Press reported comes from 100 samples from several states and another country – shows that vaccinated people infected with the delta variant have much higher viral loads than other breakthrough infections.
This could be an indicator of potential transmissibility in people infected with the variant. But it is unclear whether the CDC has data specifically proving the transmissibility of the delta variant, rather than just that circumstantial evidence.
Further, the current CDC recommendations do provide a metric for when vaccinated people should be wearing masks and when they can leave them at home. The agency says that people in counties with "substantial" or "high" rates of COVID-19 transmission should wear masks in indoor public settings.
This means that in places where there are 50 or more cases per 100,000 people over 7 days, the CDC says vaccinated people should wear a mask. In places with lower case rates, the CDC recommendations do not apply.
The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News on what metrics it would need to see in order to rescind the new mask guidance, including whether leaving in place the current guidance with its built-in metrics indefinitely is on the table.
The White House Thursday declined to provide any timetable or metrics on when the mask guidance will be rescinded.
Matt highlighted data from the CDC as covered by The New York Post, specifically this information, with his added emphasis:
As panic reaches a fever pitch over the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19, new data shows there’s only a minuscule risk of vaccinated Americans becoming seriously sick with breakthrough cases.
Out of 161 million US residents who were fully vaccinated as of July 19, just 5,601 caught a severe breakthrough infection and were hospitalized — an infinitesimal 0.0035 percent of the protected population, according to the latest CDC figures available on post-vaccination infections.
When it comes to deaths, the risk is even lower, with just 1,141 vaccinated people dying from a COVID-19 breakthrough infection — or 0.0007 percent of those fully jabbed.
Overall, the elderly were the most at risk of severe breakthrough infection, with 74 percent of people who were hospitalized or died post-vaccination over the age of 65.
By contrast, 95.5 percent of total COVID-19 deaths and 97 percent of total hospitalizations in the US are among unvaccinated people, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Ted Cruz (R-TX) took to the Senate floor to call out the CDC.
.@tedcruz: "Has there ever been an institution in American public life that has more discredited itself more rapidly, than the CDC?" pic.twitter.com/04xj4kIjRa
— The Hill (@thehill) July 29, 2021
His entire remarks are worth giving a listen to or read through, but he has a particularly potent warning for the Democrats towards the end of his remarks:
I'll tell you, the American people are watching this political theater play out in Washington, and they understand what's coming next. They understand the same CDC that said, even though there's no science to back it up, even though there's no data to back it up, because the teachers union bosses want masks for everyone in schools will decree it. They understand the risk of what's coming next is that authoritarian statist Democrats will order more shutdowns, will order businesses shut down, will order school shut down, will order churches shut down. We look at the past year and a half few things are clear than the shutdowns were a catastrophic mistake. The politicians that ordered the shutdowns committed a catastrophic mistake.
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that there would be mandates for federal workers to be vaccinated or submit to masks, social distancing, and testing. Reactions from unions have been mixed. The White House signaled it "will encourage" the private sector to follow these mandates as well.
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