Silver Spring, MD — Claiming the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention is “as soon as once more responding to political pressures from these determined to take away any security protocols throughout this lethal pandemic that’s nonetheless inflicting unacceptable numbers of infections, hospitalizations and deaths every single day,” the nation’s largest union {and professional} affiliation of registered nurses is asking on the company to reverse its new COVID-19 steerage.
On Feb. 25, CDC up to date its steerage, introducing a three-tiered, color-coded “community level” system “to assist communities determine what prevention steps to take primarily based on the most recent information.” Ranges of transmission danger are designated as low (inexperienced), medium (yellow) or excessive (pink), and are decided by hospital beds getting used, hospital admissions and the whole variety of new circumstances in an space.
Below these new metrics, about 70% of the U.S. inhabitants is taken into account at low or medium danger. Masks use is advisable in solely excessive transmission areas, in addition to for individuals with signs, who check optimistic or are uncovered to somebody with COVID-19.
“The brand new color-coded scheme will create confusion and public mistrust in what’s protected and what’s not,” Nationwide Nurses United President Zenei Triunfo-Cortez mentioned in a press launch. “The hazard to our most weak populations, together with immunocompromised people and younger youngsters, is particularly worrisome.”
NNU takes subject with CDC’s willpower that fewer than 200 circumstances per 100,000 would nonetheless be thought-about low transmission.
“The brand new ‘low’ might now be as much as 20 instances larger than the earlier commonplace, which is definitely not warranted with the continuing numbers of hospitalizations nonetheless occurring and ever-escalating studies of latest variants comparable to BA-2,” Triunfo-Cortez mentioned.
By focusing primarily on hospital capability metrics, Triunfo-Cortez says, CDC isn’t making masking about particular person and group safety, and isn’t offering wanted protections for the immunocompromised, younger youngsters or different weak populations.
“Should you wait till hospital capability is strained, it is going to be too late and you’re courting catastrophe,” she mentioned. “Everyone seems to be anxious to get this lengthy trial of the pandemic to an finish, however stress-free security protocols will solely proceed pointless and unwarranted lack of life, and additional strains for our already overwhelmed frontline caregivers.”
