Former Biden transition advisors call for change in Covid-19 strategy
We ran the numbers: There are 1339 news articles covering this topic. 31% (409) are left leaning, 29% (392) are center, and 40% (538) are right leaning.
On Thursday, former Biden health advisors recommend updating the US strategy for the pandemic to address a “new normal” of living with the virus rather than elimination. In op-eds from the Journal of the American Medical Association, the authors recommend numerous protocols for testing, mitigation, vaccination, and treatments that extend the administration’s current methods. The authors include Luciana Borio, a former acting chief scientist at the Food and Drug Administration; Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist and University of Pennsylvania professor; Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota; and Rick Bright of the Rockefeller Foundation.
A left-leaning article by CNN highlights that the three authors of the op-eds were all appointed to Biden’s Transition Covid-19 Advisory Board in 2020 and underlines some of the recommendations in their articles: “modernized data infrastructure for real-time information, bolstered public health workforce, more and empowered school nurses, and moves to rebuild trust in public health institutions.” The article explains that two authors push for the vaccine mandate citing estimates that suggest that “90% or more of people in the US need some immunity to SARS-CoV-2 to minimize the effects of Covid-19 and return to normalcy".
The Hill focuses on a return to the appropriate risk thresholds the US had seen in higher-severity years prior to Covid-19: 41 million symptomatic cases of influenza, 710,000 hospitalizations, and 52,000 deaths. The article quotes the Journal of the AMA authors in calling for better investment in testing, imposing vaccine mandates, and highlighting access to these resources.
A right-leaning article by Fox News highlights that the AMA deems the CDC’s new release on quarantine and isolation guidance as “confusing” and “counterproductive.” The article goes on to highlight the CDC’s insistence on the new guidance despite ongoing criticism of the riskiness of reducing the isolation period.
From the right
CDC's new COVID-19 isolation guidance called out by American Medical Association
Fox News