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Analysis: The right decision wrongly handled’: Inside the Biden administration’s abrupt reversal on masks
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The revised guidance — which was not publicly announced until Thursday — marked a dramatic turning point in the nation’s 14-month battle with the coronavirus pandemic and sent the clearest signal yet the country could begin returning to normal. It was a significant acceleration of the schedule President Biden had set earlier in the month, saying that he expected the country to move toward normalcy on July 4, when he hopes that 70 percent of the country’s adult population will have at least one shot of the vaccine.
But the huge policy turnaround caught senior White House and administration officials, medical experts, elected officials and business leaders completely off guard, and prompted some physicians to criticize the move as premature. Some Democratic governors were angered by the White House’s rollout, arguing the move effectively passed the buck to states and businesses to implement the new rules without any assistance.
The abrupt timing of(CDC Director) Walensky’s decision also smacked of politics to Biden’s antagonists, who noted that the president benefited from the announcement during a difficult week when many Americans queued up in gas lines, tensions in Israel flared and markets roiled amid inflation fears.
The White House vigorously denied any interference in the decision. Instead, administration officials said, part of the communications stumble arose from the White House’s hands-off policy toward the CDC as it seeks to restore public trust in the agency after it faced unprecedented political interference under the Trump administration.
“As they have done throughout the Biden administration, the CDC operates and makes decisions based on the science and data, free from political influence,” White House spokesman Chris Meagher said in a statement. “That is what they did in this case and that is what we believe they should continue to do.”
This account of the administration’s surprise mask reversal is based on interviews with more than 15 senior administration officials, outside advisers and health experts, some of whom requested anonymity to candidly discuss internal policy deliberations.
Despite White House chief of staff Ron Klain and Jeff Zients, the administration’s covid coordinator, regularly quizzing health officials on when vaccinated Americans could safely take off their masks, the CDC did not inform the White House about the updated guidance until late Wednesday — leaving some senior officials frustrated at how abruptly they were informed. ...
Officials said the administration’s hands-off policy toward the CDC means that major shifts and decisions won’t be communicated with the deftness that Americans might want. Still, several senior administration officials, outside advisers and health experts said the communication around the new guidance was fumbled.
“I think the biggest problem here is that this feels like an abrupt 180 to people. In reality, Dr. Walensky and Dr. Fauci have both explained the scientific reasoning underlying this,” said Angela Rasmussen, research scientist and virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan, referring to national infectious-diseases director Anthony S. Fauci.
“But I think the fact that it was somewhat of a surprise underscores the need for transparency in formulating guidance and policy. In a pandemic, we are all stakeholders. If the public feels blindsided by these announcements, it suggests to me that they should have more opportunity to understand the basis for these decisions.” ...
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