Dear Official,

I’m writing to request a criminal investigation of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) for official misconduct, wherein the CDC is ignoring scientific evidence for COVID-19 isolation guidelines. CDC’s decision on Mar 1, 2024 to change isolation guidelines from 5 days to 24 hours will result in an increased rate of infection, death and disability according to science available to the agency.

The initial CDC guidelines were set at 10 days but changed to 5 days in December 2021 after Delta airlines complained it was impacting their bottom-line. In an ongoing pandemic, public health decisions influenced by corporate interest instead of science demand action from Congress.

Public health data collected by CDC from the last four years of the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that all SARS-CoV-2 infections pose not only a lethal threat but also a compounding risk for developing Long Covid. Infectious disease specialist Dr. Judy Stone wrote in Forbes that “as of early February, there were still 2,000 deaths per week and almost 20,000 people needing hospitalization,” amounting to one COVID death every five minutes.

Long Covid is a multi-systemic disease that damages organs, neurological, gastrointestinal, and vascular systems and causes AIDS-like immune dysregulation, with research pointing to SARS-CoV-2 viral persistence as the leading cause. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 5,000 Americans have died from Long Covid, while COVID-19 killed over 1.1 million people in the United States, and over 7 million people globally. In 2023 it was estimated that at least 65 million people worldwide continue to suffer from Long Covid. That number is higher now, with data from the United States Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey indicating that about 1 in 4 people — approximately 27,831,176 Americans — who have had COVID-19 are subjected to Long Covid.

Additionally this letter is calling on the U.S. Committee on Oversight and Accountability to hold an expedited hearing for CDC officials, scientists and whistleblowers to testify before Congress about public health decisions regarding COVID-19.

CDC is now actively removing information on their website in addition to hiding public outcry about this decision on social media. The ongoing censorship of public information demands that Congress act immediately to hold a hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

The isolation guidelines from the CDC should be science-based and enforced as strictly as possible until effective antiviral treatments for SARS-CoV-2 persistence are developed and widely available to the public. According to health economist David Cutler, the cost of reinfections on the U.S. economy in the form of Long Covid is estimated to be $3.7 trillion over the next five years, and Congress would need to allocate a minimum of $28 billion annually to research and develop treatments for SARS-CoV-2 viral persistence, implement social programs, and provide healthcare services. This level of impact to the economy and public health is a national security threat — the development of treatments should be declared a national emergency.

Finally, this announcement follows an attempt by CDC to also reduce infectious disease protections through the Healthcare Infection Control Practice Advisory Committee (HICPAC). HICPAC has drafted an infection control guidance update that continues to neglect CDC’s own scientific data, proposing COVID should be conflated with other respiratory viruses in order to weaken the personal protective equipment (PPE) guidance for health care workers.

If we cannot access healthcare safely, the avoidance of healthcare to preserve our health represents a barrier to access, for all the persons that want to protect themselves from the virus, and a loss of chances for some. Moreover, the unilateral wearing of a respirator is being stigmatized while a call for universal respirator protections in health care should be standard protocol from CDC.

It is my responsibility as a member of the public to inform your agency when patterns of misconduct exist in the government. I hope my letter to you is not in vain. More than anything, I ask that the corruption of public health and public trust be vindicated by a criminal investigation and a hearing before the Oversight and Accountability Committee.

Thank you for taking action,