Not everyone is pleased with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Monday decision to relax the quarantine and isolation requirements for people who catch COVID-19.
The agency announced that individuals who test positive for COVID-19 now only need to isolate themselves for five days, not ten, before returning to normal activities while wearing a mask for five more days. The move was welcomed by some, including organizations like the NFL, which are updating their own testing and isolation protocols as a result.
For others, the shift in policy represented the Biden administration caving in to big business.
Specifically, some to Biden’s left are pointing to a report from one week ago that Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian wrote a letter to CDC director Rochelle Walensky requesting that the quarantine and isolation periods be reduced. Requirements to quarantine and isolate have been disruptive to businesses of all kinds that have lost employees, but the airline industry has been particularly affected this holiday season.
“So we find out that Delta CEO Ed Bastian asked the CDC to reduce the recommended quarantine time from 10 days to 5 for vaccinated people because of workforce impact,” wrote former Democratic Congressional candidate Russell Foster. “This change has nothing to do with the virus or your health & everything to do with the profits of corporations.”
So we find out that Delta CEO Ed Bastain asked the CDC to reduce the recommended quarantine time from 10 days to 5 for vaccinated people because of workforce impact. This change has nothing to do with the virus or your health & everything to do with the profits of corporations.
— Russell Foster for Texas (@RussellFosterTX) December 28, 2021
“Congrats to the Airline CEOs on being appointed head of @CDCgov,” quipped comedian Judah Friedlander.
Congrats to the Airline CEOs on being appointed head of @CDCgov
— Judah Friedlander (@JudahWorldChamp) December 27, 2021
Others went as far as to suggest that Biden’s CDC was going to get people killed. That group includes former Hillary Clinton adviser Peter Daou, who asked “WHAT IN THE ACTUAL F*CK IS THIS?” (RELATED: Fauci: US ‘Should Have Had More’ COVID Testing Available To Americans)
WHAT IN THE ACTUAL F*CK IS THIS?
With #Omicron, we’re facing the biggest surge of the pandemic. First the CDC cuts the isolation period in half, now NYC schools will eliminate quarantining!
Do they want to kill people? pic.twitter.com/CdCcong4Pj
— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) December 28, 2021
“With #Omicron, we’re facing the biggest surge of the pandemic. First the CDC cuts the isolation period in half, now NYC schools will eliminate quarantining! Do they want to kill people?”
“By ‘keep society functioning’ @CDCDirector means the capitalists urge to work us all to death – literally,” tweeted healthcare activist Matthew Cortland. “This is clearly not about ‘following the science’ – if it were about the science, CDC’s guidance would’ve said ‘isolate until you test negative on a rapid antigen test.'”
By “keep society functioning” @CDCDirector means the capitalists urge to work us all to death – literally.
This is clearly not about “following the science” – if it were about the science, CDC’s guidance would’ve said “isolate until you test negative on a rapid antigen test” https://t.co/w1WsHuykGA
— Matthew Cortland, JD (@mattbc) December 28, 2021
In explaining its announcement, the CDC cited data indicating that most transmission of COVID-19 occurs in the 1-2 days prior to the onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days thereafter. Additionally, most American adults are vaccinated, and research shows that the virus clears from the systems of vaccinated individuals more quickly than the unvaccinated, rendering them contagious for a shorter period of time.
But that didn’t stop critics from blasting the CDC. “For example, every media outlet should include that Delta CEO Ed Bastain asked the CDC to reduce the recommended quarantine time from 10 days to 5 for vaccinated people because of workforce impact,” said left-wing commentator Jemele Hill.
For example, every media outlet should include that Delta CEO Ed Bastain asked the CDC to reduce the recommended quarantine time from 10 days to 5 for vaccinated people because of workforce impact. That’s not a health decision. The media needs to frame it that way every time.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) December 28, 2021
“Dear @CDCgov and @CDCDirector. You don’t work for Delta Airlines. You should not do what their CEO ask you to do,” added author Don Winslow. “This wasn’t a health decision. It was a political one. You have made a serious mistake here.” (RELATED: Omicron Can Be So Mild, Americans Are Struggling To Distinguish It From A Common Cold)
Dear @CDCgov and @CDCDirector
You don’t work for Delta Airlines.
You should not do what their CEO ask you to do.
This wasn’t a health decision.
It was a political one.
You have made a serious mistake here.
.
— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) December 28, 2021
📍NOTA BENE—The solution to not enough tests is NOT *zero* tests to exit isolation on day 5—but rather, the safe solution is MORE test kits & MORE approved tests & FREE tests. @CDCgov caving to big businesses will only engender distrust, hurt its mission, & prolong the pandemic. https://t.co/XB4TOMwY4x
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 28, 2021
Local business owners facing staffing shortages have reacted with relief that things will get a bit easier going forward. But some doctors called the change reckless. Popular Twitter COVID-19 alarmist Eric Feigl-Ding said that the CDC’s “caving to big business” will “prolong the pandemic.”
BREAKING: CDC doubles five-second rule for dropped food
— Leta McCollough Seletzky, JD (@LaSeletzky) December 28, 2021
The CDC just announced you don’t actually have to wash your hands, just get the fingies a little wet
— Ariel Dumas (@ArielDumas) December 28, 2021
The debate did produce some clever jokes at the CDC’s expense, with comedians and observers joking that the agency doubled the five-second rule for dropped food, or that it now recommends just getting the fingers wet instead of fully washing hands. But the rule change is no laughing matter for team Biden, which now faces an onslaught of criticism from the left following this decision and President Joe Biden’s admission this week that there is “no federal solution” to the pandemic.
