CDC chief’s letter greenlighting Pence for debate
draws criticism
Robert Redfield’s missive prompts concern from
experts inside and outside the health agency
By
Lena H. Sun and
Oct. 7, 2020 at 3:55 p.m. CDT
A
letter sent by the top public health official attesting to Vice President
Pence’s health and proclaiming him safe to debate Wednesday night is
sparking outcry from public health experts.
The
letter was released Tuesday evening by the White House. It was sent by Robert Redfield, director
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to Marc Short, Pence’s chief
of staff.
In his
three-paragraph letter, Redfield said he had a “detailed discussion” with
Pence’s physician about the vice president’s possible exposure to “persons with
COVID-19.” Based on the consultation with Pence’s doctor, Jesse Schonau, and
Schonau’s “investigation and the serial negative testing results of the Vice
President, the CDC concludes from a public health standpoint, it is safe for
the Vice President to participate in the upcoming Vice-Presidential debate,”
Redfield wrote.
It is
highly unusual, and perhaps unprecedented, for the CDC director to release a
letter vouching for the health of a top public official.
Based
on the description of Pence’s movements provided by the vice president’s
doctor, the CDC director concluded that CDC guidance calls for 14 days of
isolation if there is “close contact” with someone who has covid-19. But Redfield
said Pence was not a “close contact” of anyone who was infected.
The
letter is raising concern within the CDC and among public health experts about
the propriety of Redfield’s actions, especially after President Trump and at
least nine White House employees have tested positive for the novel
coronavirus. The CDC is not involved in investigating the scope and source of
the outbreak linked to the White House.
“To me,
if we are not involved in the investigation, I don’t know how we could make
that determination” that Pence is safe to participate in the debate, said one
CDC official who was upset by Redfield’s action and spoke on the condition of
anonymity for fear of retaliation. “We should stick to our guidance. You should
be quarantined for 14 days if
exposed.”
Another
agency scientist said it was inappropriate for Redfield to use his government
office to clear a citizen for a political event. “Pence should have asked for a
private entity to endorse he was ‘clean,’” this official said, also speaking on
the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. “Using his special
privileged access to the nation’s top public health official is disturbing.”
Other infectious-disease
experts also raised concern about Pence’s status, pointing to the growing
number of people who have tested positive for the virus since Trump’s diagnosis
with covid-19, the illness it causes. The CDC defines a close contact as
someone who was within six feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes.
Pence attended the Rose Garden ceremony two Saturdays ago marking the Supreme
Court nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett — an event attended by several
others since diagnosed with covid-19.
“We
only know what we see, so we have no idea what kind of contact Pence had with
all of the 14 or 15 new people that have been diagnosed in the last week,” said
Rochelle Walensky, chief of the division of infectious diseases at
Massachusetts General Hospital.
“From
what I saw in the Rose Garden event, it did look like those chairs were closer
than six feet apart, and it looked like that event lasted longer than 15
minutes, and to me it looked like he was closer than six feet to several people
who had disease.
“If
that is the case, he meets the CDC definition for quarantine, and there is no
way according to CDC that he can ‘test’ out of it,” Walensky said.
She
said the White House’s lack of transparency about the pandemic over “many
months” and political interference in the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration have
undermined public trust in the health agencies.
“This
could represent another example of that,” she said, referring to Redfield’s
letter on behalf of Pence. Many questions remain, she said, about the safety of
the debate stage he will share in Salt Lake City with the Democratic vice-presidential
nominee, Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), and about the aides and staff Pence
might have contact with, including individuals Wednesday at the debate hall, on
the plane and in the audience.
Redfield’s
letter was the subject of debate among epidemiologists on Twitter on Tuesday
and Wednesday.
Angela
Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public
Health, noted that Pence attended two public events with Trump after the Rose
Garden ceremony, and that he said he visited Trump in the Oval Office that same
day.
“Being
in the same office, likely unmasked, counts as close contact,” Rasmussen wrote.
“It is irresponsible for VP Pence to debate Senator Harris in person tonight,
and it is unfortunate that the director of the CDC has chosen to overrule his
own agency’s guidelines."
Pence
spokesman Devin O’Malley said the vice president’s physician “performed a full
and robust contact-tracing effort in order to make the conclusions that were
contained in his recent memos,” referring to the physician’s memos on Pence’s
coronavirus test results. A memo from Schonau on Tuesday afternoon said Pence
tested negative. “And those findings were presented to the CDC,” O’Malley said.
Pence’s
aides say that none of the people who have tested positive — including Trump
and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), whom Pence was sitting near during the Sept. 26
Rose Garden event — met the CDC’s criteria for a “close contact” that would
warrant a 14-day quarantine. The aides said Pence did not come within six feet
of Trump, including when he met with him in the Oval Office, and Lee’s office
said he did not begin showing symptoms within 48 hours of the Sept. 26 event.
White
House officials presumed that lawyers at the CDC would be aware of the
consultation and publication of the letter, according to a senior
administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk
candidly. He said the debate was not “some random political event” but an
approved event. The official said he would expect the same consideration would
be given to Harris and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden if they made
similar requests of the CDC.
Redfield’s
action comes as he has faced scrutiny inside the administration and from
outside experts, who have watched in alarm as the CDC repeatedly changed and delayed
guidelines about issues pertaining to the coronavirus because of political pressure from the White
House, officials have said.
On
Tuesday, concerns about Redfield’s leadership were amplified as a blistering letter addressed
to Redfield last month by former CDC director William H. Foege — regarded as a
giant in public health circles for his work helping to eradicate smallpox —
became public. The existence of the letter was first reported by USA Today.
“You
could upfront, acknowledge the tragedy of responding poorly, apologize for what
has happened and your role in acquiescing,” Foege wrote to Redfield in a letter
dated Sept. 23 that is being widely circulated among former CDC employees and
public health physicians.
Trump
has publicly undermined the CDC and Redfield personally, complaining
about the agency’s guidelines for wearing masks and reopening schools. The
president also excoriated Redfield’s Senate testimony that universal
mask-wearing may be more useful than a coronavirus vaccine.
The
White House has grown immensely frustrated with Redfield in recent months,
placing his job in jeopardy, according to several current and former senior
administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss
internal matters. They say Trump is unlikely to fire Redfield before the
election because doing so would give the impression the White House response is
in disarray when Trump and his top aides are trying to convey a message that
the worst of the outbreak is behind the country.
After
his treatment for covid-19 at
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Trump this week tweeted: “Don’t
be afraid of covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.”
White
House officials view Redfield as unable to manage the 13,000-employee agency.
The administration’s treatment of Redfield has dismayed outside public health
experts and health officials on the White House coronavirus task force.
The
Foege letter was intended to be private. He urged Redfield to openly address
the administration’s political interference and to send a letter to all CDC
employees “laying out the facts” and accept the political consequences.
“At the
moment, they feel you accepted the White House orders without sufficient
resistance,” Foege wrote. Redfield could use the moment now to “set a course
for how CDC would now lead the country if there was no political interference,
give them the ability to report such interference to a neutral ombudsman, and
assure them that you will defend their attempts to save this country.”
“You
don’t want to be seen, in the future, as forsaking your role as servant to the
public in order to become a servant to a corrupt president,” Foege added.
Foege,
who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 by President Barack
Obama, said in the letter the White House would “of course” respond with fury,
probably resulting in Redfield’s firing. Foege predicted that would be a story
stretching over several weeks, bringing attention to political interference in
the agency and potentially helping change the course of the pandemic.
The CDC
had no immediate comment.
White
House spokesman Judd Deere said: “Every decision the CDC has made under the
Trump Administration has been data-driven to save lives, and this dishonest
narrative that the media and Democrats have created that politics is
influencing decisions is not only false but is a danger to the American
public.”
Within
hours of Foege’s letter becoming public, emails and text messages were lighting
up the phones of staff at the CDC and elsewhere.
Many in
the agency share Foege’s sentiments, one official said. “Redfield needs to push
for the science and public health, and the letter really addresses the
politicization of science,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity to speak frankly.
