![coronavirus]()
New guidelines on how SARS-CoV-2is spread appeared without fanfare on the CDC website Friday, September 18, 2020, and disappeared just as quietly Monday, September 21.
In a short disclaimer on its website Monday, the CDC said the changes had been “posted in error.”
Friday, the changes noted that the virus is airborne and that particles in the air could spread it. Monday, that information was gone — and had even been erased from the internet archive Wayback — and the site reflected the same information that had been before, that it is spread mainly between people in close contact when they cough, sneeze or talk.
CNN noticed the new changes in the guidelines Sunday, and was first to report on it, according to The Washington Post. The CDC “updated guidance on its website to say coronavirus can commonly spread ‘through respiratory droplets or small particles, such as those in aerosols. Airborne viruses, including COVID-19, are among the most contagious and easily spread,’" CNN said.
When the changes and change-back caused a flurry of news reports and speculations of how a draft report came to be posted and why it was taken down, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, tweeted that publishing what he called “scientifically valid information” and then pulling it down was “very likely a scandal.”
However, The New York Times said that “experts with knowledge of the incident said … the latest reversal appeared to be a genuine mistake in the agency’s scientific review process, rather than the result of political meddling … Still, the reversal prompted rebukes from even the CDC’s staunchest supporters. It’s not something that instills a lot of confidence, right? said Dr. Carlos del Rio, an infectious disease expert at Emory University. ‘It doesn’t help at all.’”
SOURCES:
CDC September 21, 2020
CNN September 20, 2020
The Washington Post September 21, 2020
Wayback CDC September 18, 2020
Twitter, Brian Schatz September 21, 2020
The New York Times September 21, 2020