Last week, we learned that a CDC conference—a gathering of experts in the agency’s epidemic intelligence service, no less—led to some COVID-19 cases, thanks to reporting by the Washington Post.
Well, this past Tuesday, the Post published a follow-up story: more than 30 people got sick following the conference, and the CDC is working with the Georgia Department of Health to investigate. The case count was 35 as of Tuesday, and is surely higher now; about 2,000 people attended the conference.
It’s now safe to say that this conference led to an outbreak. And that isn’t a surprising outcome, considering that it didn’t require masks or other COVID-19 safety measures. As I wrote last week, this outbreak basically signifies that the CDC considers ongoing COVID-19 spread at large events normal and unavoidable.
Even though this situation is, in fact, disappointing and could have been avoided with basic safety measures. 🙃