As the U.S. coronavirus death toll nears 200,000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is facing new criticism. On Friday, the CDC posted guidance on its website stating for the first time that COVID-19 could possibly be spread by airborne transmission. But then, on Monday, the CDC deleted the information, saying it was posted in error. This marks the third time the CDC has posted coronavirus guidance and then reversed its position.
Meanwhile, Alex Azar, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, has signed a memo barring the Food and Drug Administration and other health agencies from issuing or signing any new rules without his signature. Critics describe Azar’s move as a power grab at a time when the FDA will play a pivotal role in the approval process for a potential COVID-19 vaccine.
Meanwhile, The Daily Beast has revealed that a public relations staffer inside the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases secretly ran a right-wing website where he called Dr. Anthony Fauci a “mask nazi” and implied that “government officials responsible for the pandemic response should be executed.” The staffer, William Crews, announced his retirement on Monday after The Daily Beast exposed his work at the website RedState.com.