The Trump administration will not implement the Centers for Disease Control’s 17-page draft recommendation for reopening America, a senior CDC official confirmed to CNN.
What was in the document: The guidance provided more detailed suggestions beyond the reopening guidelines the administration had put forth last month, including specific suggestions for schools and churches.
A senior CDC official confirms to CNN that last night it was clear that the White House was not going to implement their 17-page draft recommendation for reopening America – after it asked for it.
“We are used to dealing with a White House that asks for things and then chaos ensues. A team of people at the CDC spent innumerable hours in response to an ask from Debbie Birx,” said the source, referring to White House coronavirus task force official Dr. Deborah Birx. “The 17-page report represents an ask from the White House Task Force to come up with these recommendations. That’s our role. To put together this guidance.”
A task force official provided CNN with the following statement:
“On April 16, President Trump released guidelines for opening America up again. Those guidelines made clear that each State should open up in a safe and responsible way based on the data and response efforts in those individual states.
Another administration official told CNN that CDC leadership had not seen the document before it was leaked.
A senior administration official said the draft document obtained by CNN last week was the subject of heated internal debate over the last week, but ultimately, members of the task force felt it was too specific and might not be helpful as nationwide guidance given the vastly different situations in each state.
The White House has also been subject to an intensive lobbying effort from certain sectors who were looking to influence the guidelines, the senior official said.
At the White House briefing yesterday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany reiterated the White House’s initiative to let the nation’s governors implement their own guidelines.
“This is a governor-led effort. The president has said that governors make the decisions as to move forward and we encourage them to follow our phased approach,” McEnany said
The CDC official told CNN that this is part of the ongoing friction that has gone on between the top US health agency and the White House.
The decision was then made by the CDC to pivot and try to get their recommendations implemented at the state level via state agencies.
Part of the debate over the recommendation had to do specifically with what was recommended for businesses.
“The CDC, the White House task force and White House principles were in disagreement on how strongly a public health response should still be in place,” said the official.
According to the CDC official, the agency was told by US Department of Labor officials – who are all part of the government process – that under the agency’s proposed guidelines, some of the restrictions that would have to be placed on entities like churches, and businesses were too stringent, and businesses would be left vulnerable to legal liability if a worker contracts or dies from Covid-19 on the job.
“In the absence of law, it’s regulation, and in the absence of regulation, it’s recommendations. They think it’s left too much open to be interpreted by the courts if something happens on the job. It doesn’t matter if OSHA is playing ball or not,” the CDC source said.
