Trust in government agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has eroded in recent months, according to a poll from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC, told Cheddar the drop stems from the politicization of public health during the coronavirus pandemic.
"Repeatedly during this crisis, we've seen instances where the political sector has reached in and changed public health guidance from CDC," he said. "That is a real problem."
Indeed, House Democrats are currently investigating whether the Trump administration pressured CDC officials to alter or delay information on the coronavirus.
Besser said one challenge for the CDC is that it doesn't often speak with the public directly.
"There's incredibly important information coming out from the CDC every single day," he said. "Unfortunately the CDC is not in a position where they're talking to the public through the media every day to be able to lift up that information."
Once that information is politically influenced, he added, "then people have to pick and choose and say 'well is this a guidance that's science-based, or is this one that's politically based?'"
Bessner described trust as one of the CDC's most important tools because early on in a crisis the agency depends on people following the advice of experts despite considerable uncertainty.
The Supreme Court on Thursday preserved the system that gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings of Native children, rejecting a broad attack from some Republican-led states and white families who argued it is based on race.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday it hopes to weed out false or misleading animal-welfare claims on meat and poultry packaging with new guidance and testing.
New York City is paying to house newly-arrived migrants in hotel rooms. Cheddar News takes a closer look at one of the hotels, the Holiday Inn, which is housing about 15,000 migrants over the next 15 months.
We've been closely following the migrants that were sent to various cities across the United States. Now New York City is paying for hotel rooms for migrants who were sent there. Cheddar's own Ashley Mastronardi has a closer look at one of the hotels.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill that stops public schools and libraries from banning books.
The Biden administration reached a deal to preserve a federal mandate requiring health insurers to cover preventive care at no extra cost for patients.
Former President Donald Trump arrives for his arraignment in Miami.
The government can keep enforcing “Obamacare” requirements that health insurance plans cover preventative care — such as HIV prevention, some types of cancer screenings and other illnesses — while a legal battle over the mandates plays out, under a court agreement approved Tuesday.
Two men who were active-duty members of the Marines Corps when they stormed the U.S. Capitol pleaded guilty on Monday to riot-related criminal charges.
The Human Rights Campaign, for the first time in its 40-year history, declared a state of emergency for the LGBTQ+ community as anti-LTBTQ+ sentiment is on the rise. Cheddar News explains.
