An interview with the CDC director on coronavirus, masks, and an agency gone quiet

Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, describes the coronavirus pandemic as the greatest public health crisis in a century.

And yet the storied agency that Redfield leads — one that has been used as a model by countries around the world, including the China CDC — has played a largely invisible role in the nation’s response since the White House took over communications about the outbreak last month.

CDC experts, who held regular briefings to update the public about previous health threats such as the H1N1 flu pandemic and the Zika outbreak, have been silenced. It has been nearly a month since the last CDC media briefing, which took place March 9.

STAT asked Redfield about the agency’s role, whether he was satisfied with it, the agency’s evolving thinking about