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It is not easy being CDC Director

Just ask Rochelle Walensky!

I recall that when Rochelle Walensky was selected to be the director for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) one of the key attributes talked about her was—her ability to communicate well.

Could I have done or be doing a better job than she has—nope!. She is living in the CDC fishbowl and the old phrase of "shooting fish in a barrel" as begin easy targets applies to her in the extreme.

She and Dr. Fauci got grilled (not medium rare, but I'd say well done) by a U.S. Senate committee the other day.

Their real issue is that they are dealing not with the flu, but more like the beginning of the AIDS Pandemic Early on people were dying and the medical community did not know why. I noted on the linked timeline that AIDS emerged in the 1980's and the first swab test was developed in 1994.

The problem with this pandemic is that the disease is novel and it keeps evolving with the various variants that need to be studied and reacted to. The supply chain has also changed. Masks, who, what, when, where, what type(s).

They are doing the best they can—but, I do think making "simpler" to follow the guidance would be good. Maybe not the best science, but if people start ignoring the best science, then the messaging is off.
Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.