CDC director says COVID response did not ‘meet expectations,' announces changes

TAMPA, Fla. - The CDC is acknowledging mistakes made in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic and now laying out a plan for change.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky shared an update Wednesday with the findings of an internal review. The agency said it launched the review in April to better support the future of public health. 

In a statement, the agency said, "never in its 75-year history has CDC had to make decisions so quickly, based on limited and evolving science."

Doctors said the CDC should have been more transparent about that from the beginning of the pandemic.

"What they should have done in the beginning is say, well, we don't really know what's going on here. You know, give us some time to work this out," Dr. Thomas Unnasch, a distinguished USF Health professor said.

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The CDC faced a lot of criticism for releasing public guidance and then reversing course. Doctors said that impacted public trust.

"So going out and saying, you know, we don't need masks and then turning around and telling everybody they really should be wearing masks was a really, really bad communications failure," Unnasch said.

"For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for COVID-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations," said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. "As a long-time admirer of this agency and a champion for public health, I want us all to do better, and it starts with CDC leading the way.  My goal is a new, public health action-oriented culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and timeliness.  I look forward to working with the incredible people at CDC and our partners to realize the agency’s fullest potential to benefit the health and well-being of all Americans."

The CDC says some of the next steps will include:

• Creating a new executive council – reporting to the Director.
• Creating a one-stop shop for external partners to navigate the agency.
• Creating a new equity office that will promote this focus across all of the work CDC does.