Dr. Rochelle Walensky is the 19th director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, known primarily for her work in infectious disease control. More specifically, her work with AIDS and HIV has helped to improve screening and care in South Africa.
“This top-tier agency, world-renowned, hasn’t really been appreciated over the last four years and really markedly over the last year,” she told the Journal of the American Medical Association in early 2021. “I have to fix that.”
Yet that plan has appeared to falter somewhat.
In the first year of her tenure, Walensky has participated in media training following several months of missteps, attempting to improve her communication skills.
On Jan. 7, Walensky joined Good Morning America to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on reported deaths.
In the interview, Walensky said that nearly 40% of people who had tested positive for COVID-19 in the hospital did not come in for reasons concerning the virus. She added that over 75% of deaths were people with “at least four comorbidities” and were “unwell to begin with.”
However, the brief statement from Walensky led news sites to assert that the CDC had actively peddled a conspiracy theory and made remarks that have inadvertently minimized the deaths of disabled people. In reality, the entirety of the video demonstrated that Walensky specified that 75% of deaths were of vaccinated people. Unfortunately, many misinterpreted the claim.
CNN published a “fact check” shortly after.
“The full footage, which Good Morning America released hours after the controversy erupted on Monday, proves that Walensky was speaking specifically about a small number of deaths that were described in a new federal study,” CNN said.
The study examined risk factors for severe COVID-19 outcomes among 1.2 million vaccinated people ages 18 and over. It found that people 65 and over who experienced other health problems such as immunosuppression and diabetes were associated with higher odds for severe COVID-19 outcomes. It concluded that all people with severe effects after primary vaccinations had at least one risk factor. Of the 36 who died, 28 (or 78%) had existing health problems.
During a separate interview with Fox News correspondent Bret Baier, Walensky was asked if the 836,000 deaths in the United States would be separated by those who died “from” or “with” the virus.
“Yes, of course, with omicron, we’re following that very carefully,” she confirmed. Walensky said the death registry takes a few weeks to collect but that the data would be forthcoming. However, the CDC failed to follow up, and the communications department of the CDC did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for clarification.
The Good Morning America interview was followed by a telebriefing, one of the first in months. In 2021, there were just two telebriefings, in stark contrast to the 24 in 2020.
Walensky and the CDC have been aggressively critiqued after the CDC released the new quarantine guidelines in recent weeks. A lack of communication and periodic adjustments to COVID-19 procedures has led public health experts to request a more cohesive direction at the agency.
