Federal health officials have identified and removed guidance documents released during the Trump administration that were not science-based and not “primary authoritative” by staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to an internal review of the agency.
The review specifically cited three reports issued by the Trump administration that had previously been removed from the agency’s website: guidance on the reopening of schools published in July, guidance on “reopening of America” published in April and guidance on the COVID-19 tests published in August.
The review was conducted by the CDC’s deputy principal director, Anne Schuchat, at the request of the agency’s director, Rochelle WalenskyRochelle Walensky The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by the National Shooting Sports Foundation – Biden: Returning to ‘normal’ still means ‘beating the virus’ Director of the CDC: ‘I worry about the day when the vaccine will no longer be free’ Fauci for spring breakers: ‘Don’t let your guard down completely’ MORE, as part of a pledge to restore public confidence in the CDC.
It was first reported by The Washington Post.
In a memo to Walensky summarizing the findings, Schuchat said the review “will ensure that all existing CDC guidelines related to COVID-19 are evidence-based and free from policy.”
The review found that some guidelines “were not primarily created by the CDC team”, that some used language that was not as strong as it could be and that some needed to be updated based on new evidence.
Schuchat also recommended improvements to help the public find it easier when new guidelines are published or existing ones are updated. The memo said that it was often difficult to “decipher basic recommendations” in long guidance documents and that “the crux of what was new or changed was difficult to find”.
All three removed documents drew reactions from experts at the time they were published and led to concerns that Trump administration political officials were meddling in science-based recommendations.
From the CDC guidance about the country’s reopening from April on, it was much less detailed than the guidelines originally developed.
School guidance focused heavily on the benefits of face-to-face classes and minimized risks. The document was released in late July, weeks after the president attacked previous guidelines, tweeting that they were “very difficult and expensive”. It was removed in October.
Last August, the CDC faced a significant backlash from public health officials, local health departments and members of Congress when changed their guidance to affirm that people without symptoms “do not necessarily need a test”, even if they have had close contact with confirmed cases.
The agency made the change by updating its website, but did not make any public announcements or explained the reasoning behind the main review. It was substituted In September.