On Friday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new guidelines requiring people who are seriously ill with Covid-19 to return to their schools and workplaces to prevent the spread of infection to their colleagues and the public.
The guidance recommends that workers return to work 24 hours after the last flu — a point at which most Covid-19 patients are still actively infectious.
Such instruction has no basis in health care. It pursues two basic goals. The first is to ensure that workers work even if they pose a major threat to the safety of their co-workers and customers in order to make profits for large corporations.
Second, and no less important, the US government, on behalf of the financial oligarchy, is trying to shorten life expectancy and create the conditions for early death by allowing the unhindered spread of Covid-19 among older Americans and the immunocompromised.
The CDC policy change comes at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic is circulating at a higher rate than the previous year and all barriers to the spread of the virus have been lifted. Epidemic surveillance was halted after the Biden administration lifted the Covid-19 public health emergency in May of last year, so it can only be determined using wastewater data.
The new CDC guidance links Covid-19 to other viral respiratory illnesses, including seasonal flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and encourages anyone with these pathogens to report to work and resume normal activities for registration.
At least a quarter of working Americans don't have sick leave, which is often spent on their vacation days. In the private sector, only 40 percent of the lowest-paid workers receive sick leave. Employers and managers now rely on CDC guidelines to require employees to come to work sick or be fired.
Every aspect of the new guidelines contradicts known scientific facts about Covid-19: Without testing, patients cannot determine for themselves whether they are infected or not; A large percentage of Covid-19 transmission occurs through asymptomatic patients; Fever is one of a dozen Covid-19 symptoms; And more than 20-40 percent of Covid-19 patients remain infectious after five days, and some for more than a week.
The guidelines are in direct contradiction to the fundamental principles of public health, which aim to control the spread of all pathogens and reduce the burden of morbidity and mortality on society. In lieu of expanded paid sick leave for all workers, as well as mass testing, contact tracing and other basic health measures against Covid-19, influenza and RSV, the CDC reduced its recommendation for isolation for all respiratory viruses to a minimum. No longer recommend testing for Covid-19.
This is the latest in a series of unscientific policy changes by the CDC that has discredited itself in the eyes of all serious scientists, doctors and anti-Covid activists during the pandemic.
Dr. Lucky Tran, a science communicator at Columbia University, condemned the change in CDC guidelines Forbes: “The CDC guidelines changes are actually the result of political and corporate pressure. This is a dangerous shift against science, encouraging the spread of disease and prioritizing corporate interests, making it easier to exploit workers.
Dr. Ellie Murray, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Boston University's School of Public Health, told CNN: “It's not good science. It's not good for public health. It doesn't give people the right information.
Dr. Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, also told CNN: “Over the past four years, the overwhelming body of evidence about this virus tells us that it is a much more dangerous pathogen than the non-seasonal flu. Still evolving, the long-running Covid-19 has caused tens of thousands of people around the world and is known as 'the flu.' Cannot be declared.'
In fact, the CDC's own data — incl “Background” documentThis justifies their recent shift in strategy – clearly showing that Covid-19 is far more dangerous than the flu, RSV or any other seasonal virus.
In the first week of February 2024, nearly 1,600 people died of Covid-19. Since August 26, 2023, the weekly death toll has consistently exceeded 1,000 for 24 consecutive weeks, or nearly half of the calendar year. In 2023, 5,748 people died from the flu, and more than 77,000 from Covid-19.
Death rates among 18- to 44-year-olds remain 20 percent higher than pre-pandemic baselines, says Greg Travis, a data analyst who runs the only Covid-19 death tracker in the United States. Among children under 18, the death toll from Covid-19 is five times that of the flu. The old and the weak are put to death, but so are those in the prime of their lives and those whose lives have just begun.
According to the official CDC tracker of Covid-19 hospitalizations, a total of 17,310 people were hospitalized for Covid-19 nationwide in the week ending February 24, 2024, more than for any other respiratory virus. In the “background” document, between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023, the number of hospitalizations was 250 per 100,000 people, half of the same period in the previous two years. Combinations for influenza and RSV.
In addition, SARS-CoV-2 is evolving faster than other respiratory pathogens and continues to develop new immune system-attacking variants, such as the JN.1 “Pirola” variant that spread rapidly around the world this winter.
Thousands of scientific studies have shown that Covid-19 is capable of damaging all organs in the body, including the heart, lungs, kidneys and brain, at a much higher rate than the flu or other viral respiratory illnesses. More than 20 million Americans of all ages are now infected with chronic Covid-19, and hundreds of millions more worldwide.
To justify its policy change, the CDC distorts the scientific evidence on Long Covid and downplays the continuing danger of this often-dreaded disease, stating in its “background” document that “the prevalence of Long Covid also appears to be declining.”
However, recent data from the CDC's own National Center for Health Statistics, which conducts a regular pulse survey of American households, suggests scientists estimate that the JN.1 variant may have increased long-term Covid transmission during the current winter wave. A third of the US population has been infected in recent months, a record high.
As of January 2024, 17.6 percent of U.S. adults reported being infected with long-term Covid-19 at some point during the pandemic, representing nearly 60 million Americans.
In an article published this week Conversation As published, leading long-time Covid researcher Dr. Ziad Al-Ali from Washington University in St. Louis:
[E]There is now considerable evidence that SARS-CoV-2 – the virus responsible for Covid-19 – affects brain health in several ways. In addition to brain fog, Covid-19 can cause a variety of other problems, including headaches, seizure disorders, strokes, sleep disorders, tingling and nerve paralysis, and various mental disorders.
Dr. Al-Ali noted that these risks persist with any SARS-CoV-2 variant, highlighting studies that show memory problems are widespread; Imaging studies showing brain shrinkage following Covid-19 infection; One study showed that mild to moderate infections can age the brain by at least seven years; And autopsy reports demonstrate the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in brain tissue. He concluded with the alarming results of a recent study that showed a significant drop in IQ scores in Covid-19 patients.
Against government inaction and apparent criminality, chronic Covid patients are organizing a protest at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC on March 15. It was the first protest in the US since September 2022 involving long-term Covid patients and activists. White House condemns Biden's lie that “pandemic is over”
die World Socialist Web Site The entire political establishment supports this rally while ignoring and covering up the current dangers of the pandemic. The only presidential candidate running in the 2024 US election to publicly oppose the latest change in CDC guidelines is Socialist Equality Party's Joseph Kishore, who posted a statement on Twitter/X hours after the new guidelines were released. Kishore wrote:
Throughout our campaign, @jerrywhiteSEP and I will fight for a socialist public health plan that counters Democratic and Republican policies of disease, harm and death. #LongCovid Let's fight to massively increase funding for research, ensure access to clean air, renovate all public spaces, science education of the population, and make everyone aware that Covid-19 is airborne and a new process. Warp speed to develop nasal and other vaccines that provide truly sterile immunity against all strains of #SarsCoV2.
Loading tweet…
The CDC's recent policy change will further worsen the impact of Covid-19 on the US and global population, with the international working class expected to bear the brunt of the damage. With America at the center of global capitalism, the policies pursued by the CDC threaten to be replicated around the world where limited quarantine guidelines are still in place. It is imperative that the international working class confront this attack on their right to a safe and healthy environment and fight for a socialist public health plan to stop Covid-19 and all other infectious diseases spreading around the world.
