CDC chief in SC defends agency, says COVID-19 is in ‘hands of the American public’
In a Columbia stop Thursday, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of a spike in coronavirus cases, especially as families prepare to gather for Thanksgiving next month, and defended his agency against recent criticism that politics had rendered it ineffective in responding to the pandemic.
Dr. Robert Redfield, the agency’s director, stressed that widespread adoption of social distancing, hand washing and mask wearing could curb the virus’ spread. And he urged Americans to get a flu vaccine, saying that while it won’t prevent contracting the potentially deadly respiratory disease, it could keep people from being hospitalized with the flu.
He also defended his agency and the employees who work there from criticism that the country’s lead public health department has been eroded from the inside out and fallen on its duties to combat the virus because of the CDC’s leadership and the Trump administration, following a ProPublica report. Redfield, a virologist, took over the country’s lead health agency in 2018.
“Despite all the negative press that seems to be coming in this climate right now, I can tell you that these are the most outstanding men and women that protect this nation 24-7,” Redfield said.
“I’m disheartened when I see the negative criticism because some of them are used to it. Those to us that have been in these positions know that it comes with the territory. But I’ve tried to encourage them to keep their enthusiasm, to work 24-7 protecting the American public.”
Redfield’s meeting with South Carolina government and health leaders, including Gov. Henry McMaster, came an hour after the state’s health agency reported on Thursday 1,000 new positive COVID-19 cases in its daily update — the third time since September cases have logged that high.
Since the state’s outbreak in March, the health department has reported as of Thursday 154,869 confirmed cases of the virus.
As a result of the virus, 3,400 South Carolinians have died, the agency reported.
Neither McMaster or Redfield mentioned the death toll or the high case count during Redfield’s Columbia visit in front of reporters. Answering a reporter’s question, Redfield praised the state’s response to the pandemic, saying he thinks South Carolinians are “very fortunate” for their leadership.
“South Carolina obviously was hit hard,” Redfield said, noting the so-called “Southern surge” of high cases in the first few months.
He then went on to blame visitors to the state for the outbreak.
“We believe, Dr. (Deborah) Birx and I believe, that much the Southern surge was caused by individuals coming south to vacation, and not being full-time southerners, found the hot afternoons more acceptable,” Redfield said.
Though South Carolina fall temperatures have felt otherwise, Redfield told The State separately in an email Thursday that as more people spend time indoors because of cold weather, “the risk of flu and COVID-19 will rise.”
“We can help take flu out of that equation by getting people vaccinated,” Redfield told The State by email. “I urge the American public to embrace flu vaccination with confidence to help protect themselves, their families and their communities.”
Universities are on alert as students ready to leave campus for Thanksgiving break and return.
University of South Carolina president Robert Caslen noted that tests Wednesday of 499 faculty and students all logged negative.
Though that kind of rapid testing is not available to all South Carolinians, particularly at a time when businesses and schools are reopening. Asked Thursday how the CDC was planning to get rapid tests into the hands of more Americans, Redfield deferred to the Office of the assistant secretary for health, “which is leading the nation’s COVID-19 testing strategy.”
“You know, I was very concerned that universities were going to be a real challenge, largely because many of the young people not necessarily inherently social distancing,” Redfield said Thursday. “Within the last four months, it turns out that the universities now are the safest places in town.”
That remark comes amid increased criticism by the public and businesses, who argue the university is not doing enough to keep large crowds of students from gathering at bars, particularly in Columbia’s Five Points area.
”The outbreak is on the increase now and we’ve got to be vigilant in recognizing the dynamics of transmission are different now than they were just four weeks ago,” Redfield said, urging COVID-19 safety protocols though not saying whether South Carolina should have a statewide mask mandate or whether county’s should either.
“At the end of the day, what happens over the next three, four months is in the hands of the American public,” he said. “And I’ve said this, people, some people don’t agree with me, but I really think this is true that if every one of us embraced face coverings, social distancing, hand washing, crowd control, we all did that, we would really control this pandemic. We wouldn’t eliminate it, but we would bring it back under control within six to 12 weeks.”
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 4:23 PM.
