For nearly two years, Dr. Anthony Fauci was the pope of the media’s new church of science and the CDC was the Vatican Council handing down the dogmas of the rites and rituals around masks, isolation, and vaccine anointments. But with the CDC loosening isolation recommendations in the face of new information about the Omicron variant’s life cycle, the media’s faith was shaken as they openly denied the science and questioned the CDC’s judgment, including their desire to keep people well.
The science behind the move was rather simple to understand. ABC correspondent Trevor Ault even explained the decision during his segment on Wednesday’s Good Morning America. “The CDC this week shortening the Covid isolation period for people without symptoms from ten days down to five citing growing evidence the virus is most infectious two to three days after symptoms begin,” he reported.
But that didn’t stop co-anchor Whit Johnson from assailing CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky a short time later. “Many are applauding the move but you’re also facing some criticism for not including a test-out policy,” he told her.
Johnson was so desperate to pressure her into retracting the recommendation that he cited comments from a former health official from the Trump administration. “Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams says it's not about the best science, it’s more of a compromise to keep the economy open. Why didn't you include a testing component,” he wanted to know.
Walensky shot back, telling him that “we had a lot of science to inform our decisions and it was science in many different areas.” She then spelled it out for him (Click “expand”):
The first was how does the virus work, how is viral decay happening? And we do know the vast majority of viral transmission happens in those first five days, somewhere in the 85 to 90 percent range. So, we're really talking if you can isolate for the first five days that would be great.
We also know epidemiologically that we anticipate a lot of cases. We've seen in other countries that up to four or five percent of people may have infection, so we really do need to prepare for what happens especially as those people are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic and they really are ready to go out and about.
And then, of course, third is behavior. We've seen in some studies that up to only a third of people actually isolate when we ask them to. So, with all of that science together we moved forward with isolation recommendations of five days of isolation followed by five days in a mask.
Over on CBS Mornings, they were a bit fanatical in their heresy to the church they helped found. “But we begin with a record number of new Covid cases, and controversy over the CDC's Covid response,” announced fill-in anchor and correspondent Vladimir Duthiers.
He was backed up by correspondent Mark Strassman who said “the CDC's under fire” and gave voice to the “critics” who “are frustrated, confused, angry about this latest guidance…” Adding: “Critics call it reckless. The CDC's new end-of-quarantine guidance says nothing about passing a Covid test first, if you can find one.”
For the part of NBC’s Today, fill-in anchor and chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander took a hostile tone with Walensky. He started the interview by suggesting they weren’t following the science and questioning if the CDC was trying to keep people well:
We want to start, if we can, with the CDC's recent decision to cut that isolation period in half. Given that you and other public officials have acknowledged it wasn’t exclusively science but also those possible staffing shortages that played a role in the decision, should Americans feel safe?
After Walensky explained the science as she did with Johnson, Alexander shot back by noting “the CDC has been criticized for mixed messaging throughout the course of this pandemic, whether it's on masks or on boosters,” and demanding to “why should Americans trust the CDC?”
Isn’t it interesting how the liberal media acknowledge criticism from the right only when it suits their purposes? Ultimately this proves that they media are only for following the science when it’s for restricting Americans with burdensome regulations and edicts, and not when it allows for lifting the yoke.
This defiance of allowing American to be free was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from McDonald’s on ABC, Cadillac on CBS, and Target on NBC. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s Good Morning America
December 29, 2021
7:05:13 a.m. Eastern(…)
TREVOR AULT: The CDC this week shortening the Covid isolation period for people without symptoms from ten days down to five citing growing evidence the virus is most infectious two to three days after symptoms begin.
(…)
7:07:27 a.m. Eastern
WHIT JOHNSON: Speaking of testing, those new CDC guidelines announced this week reducing the isolation period from ten to five days. Many are applauding the move but you’re also facing some criticism for not including a test-out policy. Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams says it's not about the best science, it’s more of a compromise to keep the economy open. Why didn't you include a testing component?
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY (CDC director): So first let me sort of back up and say we had a lot of science to inform our decisions and it was science in many different areas. The first was how does the virus work, how is viral decay happening? And we do know the vast majority of viral transmission happens in those first five days, somewhere in the 85 to 90 percent range. So, we're really talking if you can isolate for the first five days that would be great.
We also know epidemiologically that we anticipate a lot of cases. We've seen in other countries that up to four or five percent of people may have infection, so we really do need to prepare for what happens especially as those people are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic and they really are ready to go out and about.
And then, of course, third is behavior. We've seen in some studies that up to only a third of people actually isolate when we ask them to. So, with all of that science together we moved forward with isolation recommendations of five days of isolation followed by five days in a mask.
Now, the question of why we didn't include a test there is simply because we know that PCRs can stay positive for up to 12 weeks so we would have people in isolation for a very long time if we were relying on PCRs.
(…)
CBS Mornings
December 29, 2021
7:03:50 a.m. EasternVLADIMIR DUTHIERS: But we begin with a record number of new Covid cases, and controversy over the CDC's Covid response. We'll hear from the CDC's director in a few minutes.
More than 400,000 cases were reported yesterday across the United States. The most ever in one day. Our country is averaging more than 240,000 new cases a day over the last week.
Mark Strassmann is outside CDC headquarters in Atlanta a day after new guidance was announced for people who test positive. Mark, good morning.
MARK STRASSMAN: Good morning, Vlad. Once again the CDC's under fire, its critics are frustrated, confused, angry about this latest guidance which cuts by half the number of days infected people have to quarantine from ten to five, and as soon as they show no symptoms, the CDC says they're ready to rejoin everyone else.
[Cuts to video]
Critics call it reckless. The CDC's new end-of-quarantine guidance says nothing about passing a Covid test first, if you can find one.
(…)
NBC’s Today
December 29, 2021
7:06:46 a.m. Eastern(…)
PETER ALEXANDER: We want to start, if we can, with the CDC's recent decision to cut that isolation period in half. Given that you and other public officials have acknowledged it wasn’t exclusively science but also those possible staffing shortages that played a role in the decision, should Americans feel safe?
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY (CDC director): Good morning, Peter. Thanks so much for having me.
So, we followed numerous areas of science in making this important decision. One, of course, was how the virus behaves. How much virus do you still have that you could potentially transmit after five days? And we generally know that most of your transmission potential happens in the one to two days before you have symptoms and those two to three days after.
So, by the time five days of isolation has occurred, you probably have about 85 to 90 percent of all your transmission potential behind you while you’ve been in isolation.
Importantly, also to that decision was where we are in that epidemiology of this disease. Skyrocketing case numbers as you have noted, we anticipate they could get even higher. And many people are asymptomatic or only mildly symptomatic especially those who have been vaccinated or boosted. And so, they may very well not be able to or willing to comply with ten days of worth of isolation.
So, this was really a way to tell people make sure you isolate those first five days when you're maximally, infectious and, of course, wear a mask for the last five days to make sure that you don't spread anything that might be left over to others.
(…)
7:10:41 a.m. Eastern
ALEXANDER: Dr. Walensky, as you know well, the CDC has been criticized for mixed messaging throughout the course of this pandemic, whether it's on masks or on boosters, why should Americans trust the CDC?
WALENSKY: My job right now is take all of the science and the information that we have and to deliver guidance and recommendations to the American people that has adapted to the science at hand. This pandemic has given us a lot of new and updated science over the last two years. And it is my job to convey that science through the recommendations and that is exactly what we're doing.
(…)
