Robert Redfield, MD
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Recorded July 14, 2020
Join Dr. Robert Redfield, live Tuesday, July 14, 2020, as he shares his perspective on ways to think about, deal with, and potentially treat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Robert Redfield has served as the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since 2018. As head of the CDC, Dr. Redfield is responsible for coordinating much of the national COVID-19 response and research efforts. He has unparalleled access to monitor to the status of the pandemic nationally, and contributes to policy decisions at the federal level.
Dr. Redfield received his MD from the Georgetown University School of Medicine and completed his residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as an Army Officer. He co-founded the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, was the founding director of the U.S. Military’s HIV Research Program, and served for 20 years in the US Army Medical Corps.
“ Just one of our challenges next season is going to be two simultaneous outbreaks: coronavirus 19, second wave, and our regular flu season. And they both compete for the same hospital resources.
–Dr. Robert Redfield
Get ready to join Dr. Robert Redfield in conversation, Tuesday, July 14th.
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Check out the list of questions submitted by other registered attendees, and then vote to support any that match your interests.
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It is readily apparent that what guidance comes from the CDC and the messaging that comes from the White House are inconsistent at best and virtually ignored by most of the States in the country. For example, most every state breezed into phase 2 without meeting any of the CDC’s guidance before doing so. Have you ever considered having an alternative coordinating body made up of governors, CDC and the key scientific leaders such as Dr. Fauchi? I know some of this coordination goes on behind the scenes, but having a visible body that stands in contrast to the charade headed by VP Pence would make the entire country feel much safer knowing that scientific minds are governing our response and not political expediency.
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One big question on many Americans’ minds is how people can return to college in the fall. CDC is not recommending institutions of higher education test all students, staff, and faculty upon returning to campus. I’ve seen some pushback against that recommendation. Can you explain more why entry testing is not a good idea for institutions of higher education? Some institutions plan to test everyone regularly, for example every two weeks or every month. What do you think of those plans?
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The CDC has not declared racism a public health crisis, but as the coronavirus pandemic has played out in America, taking a greater toll on people of color than on white people, what is the CDC doing to address these racial disparities? And have the CDC’s well-documented problems addressing racism within its own organization impacted the CDC’s work addressing the racism evidenced in the nation’s handling of the pandemic?
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Would it be possible to address the impact of an exponential increase in cases on the case mortality rate given the lag between cases and death. For example, in Florida we have seen total cases increase by about 40% in the last two weeks and virtually none of the deaths resulting from those cases would have been reported resulting in a misleadingly low case mortality rate. This happens to a much lesser degree when cases are steady or dropping.
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The CDC has estimated that about 40 to 45% of all cases are asymptomatic. Have you attempted to break that down by age group? It seems that knowing that percentage for each of grade school age, middle school age and high school age would be useful. Perhaps that could be combined with the results of the Yale study on infectiousness of asymptomatic carriers to estimate the risk of infection for classrooms in an area with a given prevalence of infection.
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The CDC has not declared racism a public health crisis, which, as the coronavirus pandemic has played out in America, is shown to take a greater toll on people of color than on white people, so what is the CDC doing to address this disparity? And, how may the CDC’s own well-documented lapses in dealing with racial disparities within its own organization, have affected the agency’s work during the pandemic?
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Could you address the impact of positivity rates on the usefulness of pool testing and say where and when pool testing has value. Obviously at the positivity rates we are seeing nationwide there is very little value, but if we ever get positivity rates low enough to effectively contact trace and isolate there could be a benefit.
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Why has the CDC lied so much about the death toll considering the CDC guidelines of what is to be written on a death certificate demands that a doctor lie about the cause of death? Second, Why has the CDC lied about the “infected” numbers by combining the cold, influenza, and COVID-19 numbers all as “corona virus” cases? Third, Why do you intentionally falsify the need for masks when a majority of test labs have proven that masks are not effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19? Finally, Why has the CDC lied to the American public so many times since January of 2020? I doubt you will answer these questions truthfully.
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Some cities and states are returning to stricter requirements to control the coronavirus. Would you recommend they also folllow the guidelines the CDC initially recommended for reopening before doing so again?
If so how long do you think it will take for laces with large outbreaks to achieve the requirements ?
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