Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky said the agency did not properly respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and vowed to make changes.
According to the New York Times, a CDC report found that the agency’s COVID-19 guidance was considered “confusing and overwhelming.”
“For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for COVID-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations,” Walensky said in a statement to the New York Times. “My goal is a new, public health, action-oriented culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication and timeliness.”
Walensky’s statement comes less than a week after the CDC issued new COVID-19 guidance, which still emphasizes mask-wearing in areas of high COVID-19 spread. But the new guidance now recommends that those who are a direct contact of someone with COVID-19 simply wear a mask in public for 10 days instead of quarantining.
Walensky’s organization is also encountering increasing monkeypox cases and the possible reemergence of polio in the New York City area.
The U.S. ranks among the worst countries for COVID-19 deaths with 315 coronavirus deaths per 100,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. Canada had 113 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 people and Mexico had 257 deaths per 100,000.