How CDC science is made

In August 2021 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report recommending that schools enforce mask, vaccine, testing, contact tracing, and social distancing mandates. The report claimed these restrictions were effective based on data from schools in the Los Angeles County Unified School District (LAUSD), the country’s largest. 

One of the authors of the report was Kaitlin Barnes, an employee of the Los Angeles County Office of Education. An investigation launched by a small underground group of LA moms discovered that Barnes’ mother is Los Angeles County Public Health Department Director Barbara Ferrer, who dictates LA County’s COVID-19 policies and mandates. 

The other authors of the report were Ferrer’s employees at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACPHD). 

This CDC report was used by mainstream media outlets – including the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, CNN and others to promote forced mask wearing and other restrictions in schools. 

More importantly, it was this CDC report that Barbara Ferrer used to justify mandates in schools until late March. 

Notably, Barnes’ report did acknowledge Ferrer but did not disclose the link between her and her mother, raising questions about conflicts of interest. Ferrer denied being involved. 

In sum, LA’s Public Health and Education Departments wrote a report for the CDC, who used the report to recommend mandates in schools. The LA County Public Health Department in turn used that recommendation to justify mandates in schools. 

This is further illustrated in a video from a January 2022 town hall meeting involving Ferrer and Andrea Kim, one of the report’s authors and Ferrer’s employee. Kim justified forcing children to wear masks outdoors because “we’re following CDC guidelines” - the guidelines based on the report by Kim herself. 

Barnes’ recommendations in the report almost exactly mirrored demands made by the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) teachers’ union back in July 2020: 

• Widespread testing of students and employees 
• Significantly increased cleaning protocols 
• Personal protective equipment for employees 
• Personal protective equipment for students 
• A rigorous tracing procedure for anyone in close contact with someone who tests positive 
• Reduced class sizes to keep students six feet away from each other 
• Alternative learning/work arrangements for high-risk students and staff 

Teachers’ unions have been known to dictate CDC public health policy during COVID-19. Internal emails obtained by Fox News last year show the country’s largest teachers’ union, the National Education Association (NEA), threatening the CDC with public criticism if the agency did not recommend imposing mask mandates in schools. Indeed, the CDC subsequently changed its recommendation to match the NEA’s “suggestion”. 

The Los Angeles County Public Health Department is expected to reinstate mask mandates by month end.