CDC is flat out wrong. CDC was once crown jewel of world in public health. Now it’s a political Trump shop - eg saying “CDC does not recommend entry testing of all returning students, faculty, and staff” (to campuses). this is insane. Thread 🧵. #COVID19 chronicle.com/article/The-CD…
2) We know campuses risky. “a major cluster in fraternity housing at the University of Washington last week has infected more than 130 students, the University of Mississippi suffered an outbreak of over 160 cases associated with fraternity parties...”
3) “the University of California at Berkeley had a large fraternity party cluster, and several college football teams have suffered sizable outbreaks already this summer.”
4) “We have overwhelming evidence from numerous other settings that testing is effective above and beyond other measures at identifying infected individuals, and that by isolating such individuals we can reduce the spread of disease.”
5) Testing helps isolate cases early and find other contacts quickly to stop further spread. And we know college campuses are uniquely risky. And many young people don’t show symptoms, yet can still spread.
6) and we know the CDC has been caught changing guidelines to make the WH happy. For example CDC deleted its own rec on choir singing in churches per WH pressure. washingtonpost.com/health/white-h…
7) And last week, CDC director was forced to make WH happy by saying that his agency’s K-12 school guidelines were not binding and expressed a desire that they not be used to justify school closures.
8) And their crappy wording and weak logic that they don’t recommend campus entry testing is shit. We know testing works. Just cuz it hasn’t been studied in specific campus setting (we haven’t had new fall semester yet), doesn’t mean it isn’t prudent, given we know testing works! 
9) This is akin to saying “We haven’t tested wearing a condom on Sunday, cuz our only evidence so far is that condom wearing works on Monday-Friday for preventing STDs”.
10) And lack of evidence is NOT EQUAL to evidence of lack of harm. This is akin to the early poor WHO liner “there is no evidence of human to human transmission of the coronavirus”. And we have only ONE shot at this testing for campus reopening—so we must be testing aggressive!
11) Whether we reopen campuses is a different matter (we probably shouldn’t, or at least ban fraternity parties and indoor dorm parties). But if a campus goes for it, IT MUST DO ENTRY TESTING (and repeat testing preferably 1-2 weeks later).
12) So cmon CDC- the world is looking up to you as a beacon of light and good information. Please don’t cave to WH political pressure. The CDC has more political power in its own right than Trump. If Trump were to sack @CDCDirector, there would be hell to pay. So don’t give in!
13) Special thanks to @CT_Bergstrom for the great piece calling out political bullshit at the CDC. Science matters most. And public health comes first. History will forever judge the CDC at this moment - let’s stand on the right side of history @CDCDirector. Do the right thing!
