Biden’s CDC pick, a savvy communicator, will take over at a time when agency’s voice has been muted
When Rochelle Walensky, head of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, walks into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on her first day, she will be taking over the famed public health agency at a time when its reputation has been battered and the morale of its staff is at a low ebb.
Early missteps in the pandemic have tarnished the CDC’s image. A flawed test designed by CDC scientists did not work in the hands of state and local public health labs, allowing the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, to spread undetected and establish itself in the U.S.
