Walensky Defends Most of CDC Workforce Working Remotely

Sen. Cassidy: Hard to trust CDC after lack of transparency

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sept. 14 defended how most of the agency’s workers are working remotely every day or some days.

“The people who need to be at CDC are at CDC,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director, told Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) during a hearing in Washington.

Cassidy had entered into the record an Epoch Times article detailing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) response that found just under 22 percent of the CDC’s nearly 13,000 workers are working full-time in person, while approximately 43 percent are completely remote. The rest are in between.

Cassidy expressed frustration that Walensky and the CDC repeatedly rebuffed his efforts to get the numbers and said the trust between the public and the CDC has “dissipated” over the lack of transparency. He noted that the CDC is requesting billions more in emergency funding and questioned why it should be given.

“It’s incredibly frustrating that a deliberate decision was made not to be transparent with the American people as regards the amount of people actually showing up to work. It takes a FOIA request from a newspaper. And now you’re asking for billions more. Why should we trust [you]?” Cassidy asked.

Walensky then said the employees who need to work in person at the CDC, which is based in Atlanta, Georgia, are there, mentioning laboratory workers specifically.

“We have many people in the field in 60 different countries,” she said, adding later that workers are often “more productive” offsite.

Walensky Works Remotely

Cassidy noted that still left many workers who aren’t in the field working remotely, or at home. Walensky said many workers, including herself, are often on the road, citing how she was in Washington and had recently traveled to

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