Op-Ed: Is the CDC openly discriminating against Puerto Rico, USA?
On Aug. 31, we were all surprised to see that the Centers for Disease Control, known as CDC, issued a warning against traveling to several worldwide destinations and two US territories Guam and Puerto due to an increase in coronavirus cases.
The CDC raised Puerto Rico to what they refer to as “Level 4,” to allow you to make your decisions, we will review each of the four levels that classify international destinations, States, and territories directly from the CDC website:
Level 4: Very high level of COVID-19
Avoid travel to this destination.
Level 3: High level of COVID-19
Make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel.
Unvaccinated travelers should avoid nonessential travel to this destination.
Level 2: Moderate level of COVID-19
Make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel.
Unvaccinated travelers at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 should avoid nonessential travel to this destination. If you must travel and have concerns, talk to your doctor.
Level 1: Low level of COVID-19
Make sure you are fully vaccinated before traveling to this destination.
While the CDC gave Puerto Rico the worst possible rating indicating a “very high” level of COVID-19 transmission on the island, it did not explicitly advise US citizens from coming to our island. However, the impact on our island’s tourism will be pretty severe since anyone looking up what this CDC “Level 4” means will see that it explicitly avoids travel to this destination.
Since no one should take things for granted, we took it upon ourselves to determine how dire Puerto Rico’s case rise over the last 14 days was.
Our analysis shows that Puerto Rico’s case growth is not even in the top 10, top 20, or top 30; Puerto Rico ranks #49. Yes #49. The top 53 are represented by the following states:
With 48 states above Puerto Rico’s current case percentage of 5.51%, representing a -4% decrease during the last 14 days, we wonder, with other 48 states above Puerto Rico, why the CDC did not issue a single Level 4 notice to any of those states. If we use their determination, no one should be flying in or out of the USA since they have at least 38 states with triple-digit and double-digit case increases.
While Puerto Rico shows in the last 14 days a total of 522 hospitalizations, a 26% increase and deaths also indicate a 76% increase, testing also has shown an increase to 7,964 or 26% more.
The CDC in its web site states it is against discrimination and discusses all the types of discrimination that includes: Age; disability; sexual; status as a parent; religious; national origin; pregnancy; sexual harassment; race, color or sex; and reprisal or retaliation.
On May 13, 2021, the CDC announced, and we quote; “Americans who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 no longer need to wear masks or physically distance, whether indoors or outdoors, in most circumstances.”
CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said then, and we quote: “We have all longed for this moment when we can get back to some sense of normalcy.”
The big problem with the CDC mask elimination mandate was that it assumed that unvaccinated people would willingly use a mask, they did not, and it has proven costly.
In less than two weeks, following the mask mandate, the COVID-19 Delta variant was in full swing and affecting anyone and everyone.
The facts are the facts — there are 48 states in a worse position than Puerto Rico, 38 of them with triple or double-digit case increases.
In conclusion, we all should have a critical question of whether the CDC is openly discriminating against Puerto Rico, USA?
