Trust in CDC continues to fall

It’s important to know who to trust. But more and more these days it seems people don’t trust anyone, or anything. It used to be the Centers for Disease Control was considered the gold standard for dispensing medical advice to keep us healthy. Not so much anymore. A new poll finds only 52% of Americans have a great deal of trust in the CDC. State and local health departments fare even worse, as does the Surgeon General and the FDA. So why did things change? When the pandemic hit, we looked to the CDC for guidance, but their recommendations sometimes changed. Does that mean they were lying? More likely, recommendations changed as more facts became known. Yes, there was inconsistency. We have never dealt with a virus like this before, so we are in uncharted territory. While the CDC is a government agency, its employees are scientists, not politicians. Their job is to protect the public health. We turn to them in a health crisis, and it is important we be able to trust their recommendations, based on science, so we can stay healthy. That trust is crucial for the prevention and proper handling of our current, and future, health crises.