Dr. Kavita Patel is slamming the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for not effectively updating its Covid mask guidance.
“I think the CDC’s credibility is eroding as quickly as the cases of coronavirus are eroding,” said Patel on CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith.” “That’s not good news, because, we do need workplace guidance, we need school guidance.”
“There are men and women working on the lines outside on telephone and electricity lines, and they’re still wearing masks because, in the absence of this guidance, we’re making it up,” Patel said. “That actually puts more of us at risk, so this is time to step up. These are the hard parts of government and public health communication, but we desperately need someone to do it.”
Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins has said her confidence in the agency is being undermined by conflicting CDC guidance.
“I used to have the utmost respect for the guidance from the CDC,” Collins said during a Congressional hearing on the pandemic response Tuesday. “I always considered the CDC to be the Gold Standard. I don’t anymore.”
The CDC did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Meanwhile, Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has said federal mask requirements were endangering the work of fishermen.
“You’re out on a boat. The winds are howling. Your mask is soggy wet,” Murkowski said during the hearing. “Tell me how anybody thinks that this is a sane and a sound policy?”
Patel, who served in the Obama Administration as director of policy for the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement, echoed Murkowski’s concerns.