CDC Says They'll Try Harder To Explain Their Confusing Rules

In an interview published Monday, Walensky acknowledged that the manner in which the CDC went about loosening its COVID-19 isolation guidelines in December may have caused public confusion. Still, she defended the timing of the decision, arguing that it was based on more than 100 research papers on the Delta and Alpha variants.

January 18, 2022

"We felt the need to take action before we had omicron-specific data," she told the Wall Street Journal. "I think what I have not conveyed is the uncertainty in a lot of these situations."

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Walensky was accentuating how guidelines are bound to change as the nature of the Coronavirus pandemic changes, a dynamic she desires to convey more effectively moving forward. The report noted that Walensky is being coached by a media consultant and plans to hold more solo press conferences in the coming months — separate from the White House COVID-19 Response Team.

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Critics have accused the agency of adjusting its guidelines based on factors unrelated to science. The CDC announced its intent to loosen its isolation guidance on December 27, roughly one week after receiving a letter signed by executives at Delta Air Lines asking for loosening guidance on December 21. The agency cut its isolation guidance from 10 days after a COVID-19 infection down to five days for asymptomatic people, followed by five days of masking.

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January 18, 2022

The decision to loosen the restrictions drew objection from prominent doctors and experts. In one such example, Jerome Adams, who served as the U.S. surgeon general under the Trump Administration, recommended that the public ignore the new guidance on COVID-19 isolation from the CDC. Adams suggested that the decision came from economic motives.

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In the face of this criticism, the CDC added language informing a person could take a test after an infection if they wished but did not say it was required.

The CDC has also drawn criticism for other reversals in public guidance during the pandemic. Just last summer, the agency faced criticism for reversing its earlier mask guidance for vaccinated people amid the onset of the Delta variant, recommending that everyone wear a mask indoors regardless of vaccination status. When questioned about its reversal, the CDC cited unpublished data.

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January 18, 2022

"These guidelines, like most of the Biden Administration's actions these days, make little sense and seem without scientific direction," Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, stated in response to the CDC's mask policy change last summer.