The New York Times reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has developed guidelines for safely reopening the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also report that the Trump administration has tried to suppress that information “never to see the light of day,” according to one White House official. The White House press secretary stated that it was “too prescriptive.”
The CDC is the foremost authority on diseases and disease control not just in the United States but worldwide. It is funded by taxpayer dollars (our money) for the benefit of accurate information for our health.
The president has chosen to suppress this information, as is his prerogative as chief executive.
But here’s the thing. The president has stated that he is leaving it up to the individual states and state governors to decide when and how to reopen their state economies. That’s fair enough. But surely those governors would benefit from those guidelines that the CDC produced through their research.
As a physician, I would follow the science of the virus in making a decision about reopening the economy. But politicians need to weigh other factors, such as the financial impact on the state and citizens. That only makes sense.
Governors need to make informed decisions. The more information they have, the better those decisions will be. By suppressing the recommendations of the CDC, the president is crippling the ability to make good decisions.
If the president is going to “leave it up to the governors,” then he needs to supply them with the information that the taxpayers bought and paid for. By withholding that information, the president is making a decision that affects the reopening of the economy without actually taking the responsibility for setting the policy.
This is a “non-policy policy” that abdicates the leadership needed to benefit the nation.
If the president wants to decide how to reopen the economy, then he should do so as is his right and responsibility as the duly elected leader of the country. If he wants to relinquish that responsibility to the individual state governors, then he needs to supply them with all the information and resources available to enable those governors to do their jobs properly.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a worldwide problem and the entire world would benefit from the findings and recommendations of the CDC. Publishing that data would benefit the entire planet and in turn possibly shorten the duration and devastation of its effects.
By suppressing data and recommendations from the CDC, Trump is doing exactly the same thing that he is accusing China and the World Health Organization of doing.
We should be better than that.
(Dr. James Fieseher lives in Dover.)