The Washington Post reports:

The meager guidelines for safely reopening the country released this week are the latest sign of the Trump administration’s efforts to sideline the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the increasing tension between the White House and the world-renowned public health agency.

With Americans waiting for expert advice on how to resume a semblance of normal life during the pandemic, the CDC released just six short “decision trees” Thursday while the rest of its lengthy proposal remains under review at the White House, where it has been for weeks.

Instead of assuming its traditional lead role in a public health crisis, the 73-year-old agency has become just one of many voices providing often contradictory instructions to a confused and imperiled public.

“Punishing the agency by marginalizing and hobbling it is not the solution,” the venerable British medical journal the Lancet noted Friday in a stinging editorial that called the U.S. response “inconsistent and incoherent.”

“Only a steadfast reliance on basic public health principles, like test, trace, and isolate, will see the emergency brought to an end, and this requires an effective national public health agency.”

Increased friction between the White House and the CDC was predictable as President Trump, who often takes a dim view of scientific expertise, campaigns to revive the moribund economy. [Continue reading…]