Commentary: Six Ways the CDC Failed During the Coronavirus Pandemic

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the national public health agency of the United States, so it made sense that during a once-in-a-century pandemic the agency would be given a leading role. With that leadership, however, came limelight. And in so many ways during the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC, under the spotlight, undeniably flopped.

In his recently published book, Uncontrolled Spread: Why COVID-19 Crushed Us and How We Can Defeat the Next Pandemic, former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb critiqued numerous aspects of the worldwide response to COVID-19. Many CDC actions garnered forceful rebukes. While Gottlieb recognizes that a lot of talented, smart, and dedicated individuals work within the CDC, he says it’s hard to deny that the respected governmental agency failed in a lot of vital respects. Here are six of them:

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DeSantis’ Florida Offers In-N-Out Haven from Regulatory Overreach in Newsom’s California

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Refusing to ask patrons if they got the COVID-19 shots or to show a negative test in order to eat in, the popular California-based burger chain In-N-Out is taking a stand — and paying for it. But the company may have a new place to call home, if it takes up an offer from the state of Florida.

If the besieged fast-food chain were to leave, it would follow Elon Musk’s recently decamped Tesla in a growing exodus of companies from a Golden State that has lost its luster for many business owners.

Currently, three Bay Area health jurisdictions — San Francisco County, Contra Costa County and the city of Berkeley — are requiring restaurants to screen customers for on-site indoor dining by either showing proof of a negative COVID test or of COVID vaccination status.

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Commentary: Tennessee Legislature Must Pass Big COVID Test in ‘Special Session’

The red state/blue state dichotomy is not simple.

Nowhere is that more apparent than Tennessee where—despite having one of the most conservative electorates in the country—the leadership has been passive at best in responding to the wishes of their supporters during these days of great crisis.

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Police Union Boss Urges Chicago Police Officers to Defy Mayor’s Vaccine Mandate

A Chicago police union boss has instructed officers to defy the city’s upcoming COVID-19 vaccination reporting mandate, and predicted that at least half of the police force could be taken off the streets, this weekend.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced in August a directive ordering city workers to report their vaccination status by Friday, October 15.

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Major Airline Forces 12-Year-Old Autistic Boy to Undergo COVID Test Despite Exemption

Employees of a major airline reportedly made an autistic boy with an exemption letter take a COVID-19 test before allowing him to board his flight, the BBC reported Thursday.

Ryanair employees forced Callum Hollingsworth, 12, who has autism as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), to take a COVID-19 nasal swab test before being allowed to travel home to the U.K. from Spain last week, his mother Katie told the BBC. Callum had a letter from his doctor exempting him from testing, which the U.K.’s COVID-19 guidance recognizes.

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