The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) stepped in it on Twitter Thursday by sharing an animation featuring a small girl having diarrhea on a water slide.
The CDC was urging parents not to let their children swim if they are sick with diarrhea. According to the agency, germs from diarrhea can live in chlorinated water for as long as an hour to multiple days, including Cryptosporidium, Giardia, Shigella, norovirus and E. coli.
Don’t swim or let your kids swim if sick with diarrhea. One person with diarrhea can contaminate the entire pool. Learn more ways to keep you and those you care about healthy. #HealthySwimming https://t.co/3ogS3ZlQX6 pic.twitter.com/lbN6uvvufu
— CDC (@CDCgov) July 1, 2021
Guidance from the agency on poo in water includes advising Americans not to poop in water, not to swallow pool water and taking kids on bathroom breaks.
Twitter users flooded the CDC’s replies in astonishment and disgust over the post, which included a streak of feces behind the girl going down the water slide toward a pool with an adult and two other children inside.
somebody FOIA the email discussion about approving this gif for public release https://t.co/0bKgfAGPfB
— Rachel Alexander (@rachelwalexande) July 1, 2021
Your taxpayer dollars were spent paying someone to make a graphic of a child pooping on a slide
— Joe Setyon (@JoeSetyon) July 1, 2021
“Your taxpayer dollars were spent paying someone to make a graphic of a child pooping on a slide,” observed journalist Joe Setyon.
Graphic design is my passion https://t.co/I6WRcIXtPA
— Pat Ward (@WardDPatrick) July 1, 2021
The shit trail on the slide is the best thing our government has ever produced https://t.co/syurgsKhkf
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) July 1, 2021
“The sh*t trail on the slide is the best thing our government has ever produced,” remarked journalist Chuck Ross.