Health care experts everywhere are appalled at what Trump and his henchmen have done to the public health institutions in this country. But I don’t think it will help to appeal to Trump’s toadies to do anything about it:
A former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and public health titan who led the eradication of smallpox asked the embattled, current CDC leader to expose the failed U.S. response to the coronavirus, calling on him to orchestrate his own firing to protest White House interference.
William Foege, a renowned epidemiologist who served under Democratic and Republican presidents, detailed in a private letter he sent last month to CDC Director Robert Redfield his alarm over how the agency has fallen in stature while the pandemic raged across America.
Foege, who has not been a vocal critic of the agency’s handling of the novel coronavirus, called on Redfield to openly address the White House’s meddling in the agency’s efforts to manage the COVID-19 crisis, then accept the political sacrifice that would follow. He recommended that Redfield commit to writing the administration’s failures – and his own – so there would be a record that could not be dismissed.
“You could upfront, acknowledge the tragedy of responding poorly, apologize for what has happened and your role in acquiescing,” Foege wrote to Redfield. He said simply resigning without coming clean would be insufficient. “Don’t shy away from the fact this has been an unacceptable toll on our country. It is a slaughter and not just a political dispute.”
[…]
Foege’s letter Sept. 23, which was obtained by USA TODAY and has not been previously reported, is a striking condemnation from a public health figure who spent decades helping prevent the spread of diseases while earning the respect of peers.
In an interview, Foege said he felt compelled to write to Redfield after the White House appointed Dr. Scott Atlas to the Coronavirus Task Force, even though he is not an infectious disease expert.
The Washington Post and other outlets reported that Atlas endorsed the controversial strategy of herd immunity, although Atlas denied doing so. The reports prompted Foege, who helped steer India away from such a strategy during the smallpox epidemic, to reach out to Redfield.
Foege said he sees an opportunity for Redfield to help the United States turn around its response to COVID-19 if he helps implement the lessons learned from decades of fighting pandemics.
“So much of this is the deaths. It’s the deaths,” Foege told USA TODAY, noting that he did not want the letter to become public for fear that it might create a political sideshow and add to Redfield’s burden.
“Going public can only embarrass him, and it doesn’t allow him to redeem himself,” Foege said. “By doing this privately, he has a chance to do the right thing.”
[…]
Dr. Tom Frieden, also a former CDC director, said Foege is not known for being especially partisan, having served in the Carter and Reagan administrations. Frieden called him the “best CDC director in history.”
“Bill Foege is the Babe Ruth of public health,” said Frieden, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative aimed at preventing deaths from cardiovascular disease and epidemics. “Bill Foege really is in a league of his own in terms of accomplishment and is revered with reason by essentially everyone in the public health field.”
Foege’s letter to Redfield lamented that the CDC’s scientific experts have been rendered impotent during the most significant health crisis in a century while decades of experience have been ignored.
“This will go down as a colossal failure of the public health system of this country,” Foege wrote. “The biggest challenge in a century and we let the country down. The public health texts of the future will use this as a lesson on how not to handle an infectious disease pandemic.”
Foege said the CDC’s scientific reputation was tainted under White House pressure, citing the publication of official guidance not rooted in science.
“The White House has had no hesitation to blame and disgrace CDC, you and state governors,” he wrote. “They will blame you for the disaster. In six months, they have caused CDC to go from gold to tarnished brass.”
Foege described how morale among the agency’s staff broke down. “At the moment, they feel you accepted the White House orders without sufficient resistance,” he wrote. “You have a short window to change things.”
Foege called on Redfield to take a strong, public stance against the White House and accept that he would lose his job as a result.
“When they fire you, this will be a multi-week story and you can hold your head high. That will take exceptional courage on your part,” Foege wrote in closing. “I can’t tell you what to do except to revisit your religious beliefs and ask yourself what is right.”
Foege, in his interview with USA TODAY, said he’d like to see the CDC reclaim its leadership role from the White House.
“Dr. Redfield could still be a savior in all of this,” he said.
Redfield is nobody’s savior. The best you can say for him is that he’s a coward. And frankly, I think it’s more likely that he likes Trump very much:
He was just glowing that day.