Walensky faces CDC burnout as pandemic enters third year

[brooklynite]

Politico

In an early December call, Rochelle Walensky, director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, greeted a weary staff facing an ominous new chapter in the pandemic response.

The Omicron variant was spreading rapidly, she said, leading to increases in cases and hospitalizations — an indication that the U.S. was in for another difficult winter. And employees of the agency’s pandemic response team, some of whom have worked on the CDC’s Covid-19 efforts since January 2020, had reached their breaking point.

For more than a year, CDC scientists and officials have reported extreme burnout and the virus pushed them to complete investigations quicker than ever. In the all-hands meeting, Walensky delivered a sobering message to her employees: the workload was about to ramp up again. She urged CDC individuals who had not served on the response to step up to help.

“It was a pep talk,” one CDC staff member on the call said. “The message was, ‘We know this is tough, but we have to keep going.'”

[Raven123]

1. Wow.i wish I knew some details of the type of investigative work they do.

With regard to Covid, I imagined them mostly collating and analyzing data reported to them. Must be a lot more to their job. Maybe they need more employees.

[madville]

2. Imagine how burnt out the mask guidance person is

- Do not wear masks
- Wear homemade cloth masks, N95s only for healthcare workers.
- No masks with vents
- No neck gaiters.
- Two layer neck gaiters are ok now.
- Wear two masks
- If you are vaccinated, wear No Masks!
- Wait, even if you are vaccinated, you still need a mask.
- Wear a KN95/N95 or better if you can, those cloth and disposable medical masks aren’t as effective now.

Just folks that have to update the website are probably burnt out.

[SYFROYH]

3. Burnout is happening everywhere.

People are breaking down in a lot of work domains based on my observations.