Talk:Robert R. Redfield

Credentials
His credentials MUST be sourced. It's not my job to Source them it's the job of the editor who added those credentials to the page. If somebody doesn't properly Source them by later tonight I will delete the entire section about his credentials. I cannot believe this has been allowed to stand on this page. Important person, absolutely critical topic and someone adds credentials that are not properly sourced. Kind of unbelievable to me. They should be deleted until somebody properly sources what's there. Bye later tonight if somebody hasn't done it I will.Jackhammer111 (talk) 20:47, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

Infobox Items
Just wish we knew more things, about date of birth, place of birth, when he joined and left the Army exactly (I admit, the current years are approximate, but based on information already known), etc. Oh well. In due time, I suppose. &mdash; Javert2113 (talk) 00:14, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

Having read the following article, I believe this biography of Dr. Redfield is extremely misleading. He is a very controversial figure with some extremist right-wing views that would be of interest to even a casual reader: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2018/05/trumps-new-cdc-director-aids-is-gods-judgment-against-gays/?fbclid=IwAR1aTh1kyVEXSODsdNSFPTX6Y4QzEvx2JdRMa3jPYPuuz6WCvS2TTPDBooI. MaBelleSouth (talk) 08:09, 10 October 2019 (UTC)

My point exactly it's our job as editors to make these things credible. Remember Wikipedia says be bold. Jackhammer111 (talk) 20:47, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

Covid-19 response under his leadership
This will likely be the defining story of his cdc role. A few references that help:

https://web.archive.org/web/20200327201944/https://www.propublica.org/article/internal-emails-show-how-chaos-at-the-cdc-slowed-the-early-response-to-coronavirus

A key moment was when he was forced to agree to free testing. https://web.archive.org/web/20200325025038/https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/watch-katie-porter-grill-cdc-director-coronavirus-966572/

Sidelined by wh: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/19/cdc-top-us-public-health-agency-is-sidelined-during-coronavirus-pandemic/l

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/26/trump-cdc-chief-harsh-scrutiny-117792 Fitzhugh (talk) 21:55, 28 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Oh yes. Questions were raised immediately after his appointment . They had to act immediately by ordering mass production of medical supplies and test kits after first cases in China. They did not. Now he is talking about "another wave that we would anticipate in the late fall, early winter" . Yes, maybe. My very best wishes (talk) 00:27, 1 April 2020 (UTC)

[my bad, nevermind, sry] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.73.107.27 (talk) 07:23, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

[fact/fyi]: I just corrected the previous, positively biased articulation for a semanticaylly neutral one and added a renowned, fact checkable source (John Hopkins U). [opinion]: someone's going to be made scape goat by the government - it would take a lot more than a half baked attempt like that to avert that. wouldn't have wanted to have burned my own mouth like that... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.73.107.27 (talk) 20:16, 12 April 2020 (UTC)

[fact] On April 17, 2020, Redfield detailed at the White House that the CDC was prepared to support the President's Guidelines To Open Up America Again: "[00:43:24] ... now, in week 15, we're really coming down to the baseline background ... . [00:43:36] ... CDC continues to enhance the state's public health capacity to accelerate their ability - and it's critical as we open America again ... [00:44:35] ... CDC has embedded ... across this country, more than 500 individuals. We also have an additional almost 100 individuals ... working on more than 20 coronavirus outbreaks ... [00:45:05] ... there's additional public health personnel to help accelerate the states' ability to ... move forward aggressively. And we assist them so they can operationalize the President's Guidelines To Open Up America Again." 2023-02-09 01:23 EST Kmwittko (talk) 06:27, 9 February 2023 (UTC)

CDC Leadership
I wanted to find out about dates and areas of research that Dr. Redfield had spearheaded since becoming the director at the CDC. The majority for the information listed under "CDC Leadership" reads like an opinion piece about the director.Sdjbph (talk) 19:17, 20 May 2020 (UTC) Scott Delaney

The "CDC" section seems biased
The CDC section appears biased in a "newspeak-y"- way. For instance, appointees don't resign, they withdraw. She had purchased tobacco shares in the past: Not a scandal, just dubious appointment reasoning. By using the actions improperly, it appears more dubious for purpose: ".... after the President's first appointee resigned in scandal." The rest of the section does not try to seem impartial because the sources are so weighted with no effort to balance them -- more like a hit piece. Wiki efforts are to be like an encyclopedia in mission, not tabloid-ism. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Virtualkelly (talk • contribs) 11:48, 24 May 2020 (UTC)


 * Agreed. she "withdrew because of a potential conflict of interest (ownership of tobacco shares)" Kmwittko (talk) 06:33, 9 February 2023 (UTC)

Some important issues with the final section
As the publicly-expressed scientific consensus has evolved since March 2021, this section now seems to lack a NPOV, especially for a BLP:

"In a March 26, 2021, interview with CNN, Redfield said he favored speculation that the virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, was accidentally released by a worker at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in September or October of 2019 after being manipulated. Redfield did not offer any evidence to support this,[60] and available scientific research suggests a natural origin of the virus, strongly arguing against any scientific misconduct or negligence.[61][62][63]"

It seems to me that the entire final sentence, or at least the last sub-clause, must be removed in light of this shift in the debate? I would also like to emphasize that I am not a partisan of one or another theory, and have no specific interests with respect to blaming - or exonerating - particular individuals for the appearance and spread of COVID-19, to gain-of-function research, or to any of the other matters that have made this topic a political football. Publius In The 21st Century (talk) 17:59, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
 * The press has been giving the lab leak theory a lot of coverage lately, but there's no evidence at all that the consensus of epidemiologists has changed with regards to the virus' origin. So no. ᛗᛁᛟᛚᚾᛁᚱPants   Tell me all about it.  19:13, 19 June 2021 (UTC)


 * My understanding is that it is not the opinion of epidemiologists - as opposed to, say, microbiologists or virologists - that will be determinative here. It is notable that the list of signatories here [] includes e.g. Ralph Baric, one of the world's leading authorities on gain-of-function research and an initial signatory to the Feb. 19, 2020 letter in the Lancet rejecting the lab-leak hypothesis. Given the text of that letter, is it fair to say that "available scientific research "strongly argues against scientific misconduct or negligence?" I quote from the letter below:

""On 30 December 2019, the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases notified the world about a pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan, China (1). Since then, scientists have made remarkable progress in understanding the causative agent, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), its transmission, pathogenesis, and mitigation by vaccines, therapeutics, and non-pharmaceutical interventions. Yet more investigation is still needed to determine the origin of the pandemic. Theories of accidental release from a lab and zoonotic spillover both remain viable. Knowing how COVID-19 emerged is critical for informing global strategies to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks.""


 * Again, the point is not to argue for the lab-leak or against the lab-leak, but to try to reflect in a fair and accurate manner the scientific consensus as it now stands. I see that many other editors are watching these kinds of topics closely; I wonder how others might feel? Publius In The 21st Century (talk) 20:11, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Well, everywhere this question has been asked that I've seen, the consensus has been that there's no evidence that the scientific consensus has changed. And I've yet to see any such evidence. Your links above do not evince it, they merely evince that some scientists think that the lab leak is possible, which has never been disputed. ᛗᛁᛟᛚᚾᛁᚱPants   Tell me all about it.  00:05, 21 June 2021 (UTC)