You can’t call up a government agency and complain about a policy and get it fixed, even if it’s the most dipshit policy ever. The policies are made at the highest levels, based on laws that are on the books made by politicians. Even the government agency executives answer to the White House – or in the case of state agencies, the governor of the state. So I think this fixation that covid concerned people have on the CDC has acted like a cardboard cutout decoy on us for over 4 years now. The CDC has no actual regulatory power. And the CDC’s seemingly catering to business interests long predates the pandemic, and is far broader than pandemic issues even now. I’m not even sure if the CDC could be considered like other public agencies.
TIME – October 17, 2014 – The CDC Has Less Power Than You Think, and Likes it That Way By Denver Nicks The agency traditionally acts in an advisory role and can only take control from local authorities under two circumstances: if local authorities invite them to do so or under the authority outlined in the Insurrection Act in the event of a total breakdown of law and order. And here the picture becomes murkier yet because authority does not always beget power. “It’s not a massive regulatory agency,” said Wendy Parmet, a professor in public health law at Northeastern University in Boston. “They don’t have ground troops. They don’t have tons of regulators. They’re scientists. Even if the states asked them to do it it’s not clear how they would do it.” Even in the highly unlikely event that the CDC were called to respond to a—let’s reiterate: extremely-unlikely-to-occur—pandemic, quarantine and isolation would be imposed not by bespeckled CDC scientists but by local or federal law enforcement or troops. Most importantly, the CDC is extremely reluctant to be seen as a coercive government agency because it depends as much as any agency on the good will and acquiescence of citizens in order to respond effectively to a public health emergency.
[emphasis added]
I don’t know who told that reporter that pandemics are unlikely to occur when we’d just had a pandemic in 2009. Setting that aside…
Even if it were true about the CDC being better off not having regulatory powers – well, this really isn’t a helpful context for making sure hospital corporations and healthcare systems aren’t run like shoddy chop shop businesses cutting corners. We need an actual regulatory agency with authority to track hospital acquired covid and penalize hospitals doing batshit things they shouldn’t be doing just to save money. You can’t at all “depend on the good will and acquiescence” of businesses!! They aren’t even typically concerned with their own long-term economic benefits, everything is built on short term profits, so I don’t trust that business will ever do the right thing for public safety. Do you?
And I don’t trust CDC to adhere to the law without oversight. Conservatives took the CDC to court over their non-compliance on a basic record-keeping rule. I heard that CDC HICPAC is probably in non-compliance with FACA rules about opening a public comment period for written comments, and are only currently accepting sign-ups for oral comments at the upcoming meeting where I expect most people who sign up won’t get a chance to speak – they typically decide it by a lottery. National Nurses United has an email campaign to send emails to the CDC HICPAC committee anyway. It might be worth the few moments for the interested to send that in maybe? But I don’t know how much the CDC will care if they legally don’t have to care. I have heard that anonymous “spam” especially goes into the trash at public agencies, so I think there’s no value in spamming them, so don’t do that. I do believe there is value in pressuring lawmakers and the White House with letters regarding patient safety from viral spread in hospitals. I also think there’s value in talking to people about this who aren’t necessarily cautious in their daily lives, but who might still be abhorred about the idea of being infected unwillingly when seeking healthcare when most vulnerable.
It almost seems like the CDC is just there absorbing the anger and the activism like a sponge all this time, while things get worse and worse for the high risk in healthcare settings of all places! Let’s get someone in charge to reign this shit in, let’s talk to the manager.