Covid, Masks, and Schools: Rachel Wallensky Still Doesn’t Get It

In a recent New York Times op-ed, “What I Need to Tell America Before I Leave the CDC,” outgoing CDC director Rochelle Walensky defended her record as head of the beleaguered agency. While some of her assertions are undoubtedly true — the CDC is a vital institution that must rebuild the public trust it lost during the pandemic, preferably before another major threat arrives — Walensky clearly fails to grasp how the CDC squandered the public’s trust, and how her replacement can repair it. Nowhere is that clearer than in contrasting the CDC’s influence on schools during the pandemic with how Walensky now describes the CDC’s role.

In her essay, Walensky defends the CDC’s influence on extended 2020-21 school closures, writing that

About the Author

Nat Malkus

Nat Malkus is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the deputy director of its education-policy studies.

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In a recent New York Times op-ed, “What I Need to Tell America Before I Leave the CDC,” outgoing CDC director Rochelle Walensky defended her record as head of the beleaguered agency. While some of her assertions are undoubtedly true — the CDC is a vital institution that must rebuild the public trust it lost during the pandemic, preferably before another major threat arrives — Walensky clearly fails to grasp how the CDC squandered the public’s trust, and how her replacement can repair it. Nowhere is that clearer than in contrasting the CDC’s influence on schools during the pandemic with how Walensky now describes the CDC’s role.

In her essay, Walensky defends the CDC’s influence on extended 2020-21 school closures, writing that