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.
Anyone who wants to buy a gun in Michigan will have to undergo a background check, and gun owners will be required to safely store all firearms and ammunition when around minors under new laws signed Thursday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
In Ireland this week, well-wishers have lined the streets to catch a mere glimpse of President Joe Biden. Photos of his smiling face are plastered on shop windows, and one admirer held a sign reading, “2024 — Make Joe President Again.”
A Massachusetts Air National Guardsman has appeared in court, accused in the leak of highly classified military documents.
Former President Donald Trump answered questions for nearly seven hours Thursday during his second deposition in a legal battle with New York's attorney general over his company's business practices, reversing an earlier decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and remain silent.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed into law a bill approved by the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
The legislation would ban abortions after a period when many women don't know they're pregnant yet.
The attorney general's new restrictions on gender-affirming care is believed to be the first that also restricts adults, not just minors.
A federal appeals court has ruled that the abortion pill mifepristone can still be used for now but reduced the period of pregnancy when the drug can be taken and said it could not be dispensed by mail.
EPA Proposes Stringent Emissions Standards on Automakers in Effort to Reduce Pollution
The second of two Black Democrats expelled from the Republican-led Tennessee House will return to the Legislature after a Memphis commission voted to reinstate him Wednesday.
