1. United States
2. Md.
3. Letter

Restore CDC Scientific Staff and Rejoin the WHO Rejoin the WHO and restore the medical and scientific staff that have been gutted from the CDC. The recent hantavirus outbreak made this painfully clear — federal health communication was so broken that case counts weren't even posted on official websites, and physicians received delayed alerts. Meanwhile, the WHO dispatched its director-general in person, led live briefings, and gave the public real guidance. That contrast is embarrassing and dangerous. Americans are paying attention now in ways they weren't before 2020. The pandemic gave millions of people a working knowledge of transmission, incubation periods, and case fatality rates. They notice when leadership is absent. What they saw during this outbreak was a federal public health apparatus that couldn't do the basics. Fractured trust in institutions is already at a crisis point — every fumbled response makes it worse and leaves the public vulnerable to panic and misinformation. This isn't abstract. When the next serious outbreak hits, we need scientists at the CDC who can speak with authority and a functioning WHO relationship that gives us early intelligence. Hollowing out those institutions doesn't make Americans safer or more free. Fix this now, before the next outbreak tests a system that's already failing.