It reads: "Hard things are hard. For instance, the agency removed guidance that advised limiting church choir activities even though studies had demonstrated the danger of transmission of extended singing indoors. Around the country, we're seeing now decreases in rates of RSV, fortunately, in the South, South Central, even in the Northeast, in the Mid-Atlantic region. MR. ZIENTS: So, lastly, on international travel, you know, weve made, as we talked about today, important progress on the pandemic. How to Equip Yourself Before an MRI Scan? My heart and respect and gratitude to all of our health care workers who are working hard through this season, not just for respiratory viruses in children but through - across the board. And theyll be looking at many metrics, including case rates, vaccination rates, and the prevalence of any variants, including the Delta variant.As you heard yesterday, the President said that we will be planning to update him in the next few days on the metrics and on the public health, and we must remain vigilant, particularly about the spread of variants. Q Thank you all for doing this. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3 million kids under 17 have contracted COVID-19, Slavitt said, "and even though it's rare for kids to get severely ill from COVID-19, it can happen.". "At one point, one of my sons said, 'You know, Dad, we should just open a florist shop at this point," says Rochelle Walensky's husband, Dr. Loren Walensky. In January, shown in the middle of the slide, we were averaging nearly 200,000 cases per day. CHANG: I will. Walensky took part in the video a few weeks before President-elect Joe Biden appointed her on December 7 to be his CDC chief when he takes office, and shes made few public comments since then, and declined to comment for this story. At Massachusetts General Hospital, where Walensky was the chief of infectious diseases, some of her many admirers now have T-shirts that read "Answer the Code" with her initials, RPW, beneath. The orange and red counties have substantial to high transmission. Back in April, when a huge surge of COVID-19 cases hit, she didn't deny the pain. Dr. Rochelle Walensky was supposed to be a breath of fresh air after Trump-era CDC messaging fiascos. "He's young and fit and in the prime of his life. Now, health misinformation has been a problem long before COVID. In November she co-authored a paper published in Health Affairs in November 2020 that showed the factors that can affect the efficacy of a COVID-19 vaccine. He works at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute where he joined in 2003 as an attending physician in pediatric hematology/oncology and in 2006 he founded his cancer chemical biology research laboratory. MODERATOR: Last question. But, importantly, over 97 percent of people who are entering the hospital right now are unvaccinated. Dr. Walensky, right, with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Biden administrations pandemic adviser, left, and Dr. David Kessler of Operation Warp Speed, at a House subcommittee meeting in April. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the death of over 500,000 Americans. She is absolutely fearless in doing what is the correct thing, with zero concern for the political ramifications for herself.. Is the rate of younger people being hospitalized by coronavirus now any different than what we were seeing at other during other surges in the pandemic? And then finally and really important is that - and my family knows this. It was the mid-'90s, and the AIDS epidemic was still raging. Ive fielded many emails from people who want to know how to get it at the earliest possible moment.. Walensky, an HIV researcher, has not worked at the CDC or at a state or local health department. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky gives her opening statement during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss the on-going federal response to Covid-19, May 11, 2021, in Washington, DC. Receive the latest news and breaking updates, straight from our newsroom to your inbox. But through it all, as the long months became a year, Walensky had been out front, Stephenson says, sticking to the science and telling the truth. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. If and when. Stay away from people who are sick. "I don't think we're going to feel it then. He calls Rochelle his "Wonder Woman" and still remembers when he first saw her 30 years ago, in the cafeteria of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where they were both students. By late 2020, reports that the Trump administration had rewritten recommendations purported to be from agency experts further damaged public trust. A highway sign in Vancouver, Wash., the day after the state lifted its mask mandate for fully vaccinated adults. WALENSKY: You know, so we have always said when we released our COVID-19 community levels back in February that things were on the downward trend, and that was really good news but that we wanted you to put your masks away, not to throw your masks out. He said, 'What's wrong, what's wrong, is everything OK?' MR. ZIENTS: Thank you, Dr. Walensky.Next question. WALENSKY: We know that, you know, as variants have progressed, they have evaded immunity more and more. Rochelle Walensky was born to a father called Edward Bersoff and a mother identified as Carol Bersoff-Bernstein. "And one of the reasons why she stood out is because she stands tall. In a hearing on COVID-19 on Capitol Hill last week, Walensky was forced to defend the agencys integrity against questions around recent murky messaging and shared a personal story about her son to support the CDC guidance on summer camps. Like the federal government was actively trying to mess things up.". In the past, the position has generally been unfilled until a new secretary of health and human services is confirmed, and that official names a CDC director. Every shot matters. Biden's CDC Chief Rochelle Walensky Keeps Changing Her StoryAnd She ordered the hospital staff to wear masks before it became the national norm, and advised the mayor of her town and the governor on testing and prevention of Covid-19. But what should we be doing to keep everyone safe from illness? Dr Rochelle Walensky Parents Nationality, Family and Husband: 10 Facts Staff scientists took the lead, holding regular news conferences to update the public on the emerging problem. Rochelle is married to Loren Walensky, a pediatric oncologist, cancer chemical biologist and director of the Harvard/MIT MD-PhD Program. Q Thanks so much. In selecting @RWalensky, Biden has chosen one of the most respected infectious disease docs in the world. And all of these if-thens.". But this time, the Biden transition team named Walensky in advance, so she could take the agencys reins even before her boss is in place. And that is to get your COVID-19 vaccine, get your influenza vaccine and to do so now because you'll be - if you get it now, you'll be protected by the holidays. Give her a little time, he added. "I know all too well. 1. We'll be in touch with the latest information on how President Biden and his administration are working for the American people, as well as ways you can get involved and help our country build back better. Walensky has also shared her familys personal plight with the virus in urging more Americans to get the shot. If you have areas of low vaccination and high case rates, then I would say local policymakers might consider whether masking at that point would be something that would be helpful for their community until they scale up their vaccination rates because more people than not in the community are unvaccinated.SURGEON GENERAL MURTHY: And, Jeff, can I just add MR. ZIENTS: Oh, go ahead, Dr. Walensky. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team. To rebuild CDC, Biden picks Rochelle Walensky The chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital will take a top role in helping the new administration curtail the . In the same hearing, while acknowledging some parents may not want to be first in line, Walensky she would encourage all parents to get their children vaccinated and encourage children to ask their parents for the vaccine. I have heard from my colleagues in the hospital that some of the nurses and health care workers are unwilling to be vaccinated because they have heard that its going to affect their fertility and there are some other myths that are floating around, Carol Hayes, a nurse midwife whos a liaison representative to ACIP, said at the meeting. Unvaccinated Americans account for virtually all recent COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. Were asking people to raise their bar for sharing health information by checking sources before they share information to ensure its backed by credible, scientific sources. Redfield made appearances, but he was often a third-tier speaker after remarks dominated by Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and others. Over time we will be able to maybe one day not be in our masks anymore, but I have told my family I anticipate theyll be wearing a mask for the better part of 21, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, said in a video produced by her hospital last month. And as Dr. Walensky and Dr. Fauci are making clear, this is a question that they are continually evaluating. guidance or in her tone: The viruss hold on the country is loosening, but large parts of the population remain unvaccinated and the pandemic is not yet over. Still, hospitals like his continue to do educational campaigns for their employees, like the videos Walensky appeared in. Lets go to Zeke Miller with AP. COVID cases have been on the rise after Thanksgiving. Shell take the helm of CDC at perhaps its most critical moment. DR. FAUCI: Yes, well, as Dr. Rochelle Walensky has said multiple times, the CDC is looking at a number of different cohorts that will get the information that will be needed as she said if and when and to whom we will be giving boosters. And then, a few years later, she saw the advent of HIV treatments that could save patients if those patients could get access to testing and care. I saw the mental toll they were taking, but I did not see them giving up.. In the mid-1990s, as a medical student and resident at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Walensky saw firsthand the impact of AIDS, which became the focus of her research. Misinformation robs us of our freedom to make decisions for our health based on science and facts.Addressing health misinformation is an urgent challenge, a moral and civic responsibility that we must meet together. And from the moment Walensky stepped up to lead the CDC, she has promised to keep telling the truth. However, if you look at the trend on the far righthand part of that slide, theres that uptick, which somehow was reflecting what Dr. Walensky just told you about the slight uptick that were seeing in hospitalizations in our own country. MR. ZIENTS: Well, thank you, Dr. Fauci and Dr. Walensky.Stepping back, we have come a long way in our fight against this virus. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh). As for the president, whose own life has been marked by family tragedies, Biden has often referenced his own losses in relating to Americans dealing with the pandemic's hardships. I was hoping you could talk about the objective metrics that youre looking to present to the President for when some of these travel restrictions can be eased. Were going to have to really seriously address these myths that are floating around, and Im not even sure how to start to do that, she added. Pick Up The Best Face Serums For Oily Skin. Instead, she's confounding experts and the public alike. Walensky serves as the chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and a practicing Infectious Disease physician both at MGH and at Brigham and Womens Hospital.