Enlarge / CDC Director Rochelle Walensky testifying before Congress. (credit: Drew Angerer )

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky announced that she'd be stepping down from her position at the end of June. The announcement came the same day that the World Health Organization announced that COVID no longer constituted an emergency , and Walensky's resignation letter made reference to that: “The end of the COVID-19 public health emergency marks a tremendous transition for our country, for public health, and in my tenure as CDC Director.”

Walensky took on the directorship of the CDC at a very challenging time. The agency was dealing with a number of self-inflicted wounds, such as the failure of its initial tests for SARS-CoV-2 and confused advice on the value of masks. Layered on top of that was a degree of political interference from a White House that wanted to minimize the risk and damage of the pandemic. This included the sidelining of CDC experts who gave realistically grim warnings at the start of the pandemic and the editing of public health guidance by White House political appointees. By the start of the Biden administration, the once-flagship public health organization had lost a lot of its credibility and suffered from severe morale problems.

Walensky took on the task of restoring trust and reforming the agency, starting a restructuring program meant to get CDC to focus on getting the data needed to craft public health advice rather than generate academic publications. Better communication to the public was also a major goal of the reforms.

Enlarge / Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo speaks at a press conference in Rockledge, Florida, on August 3, 2022. (credit: Getty | SOPA Images )

At the height of the pandemic, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis repeatedly promoted COVID-19 vaccines , saying correctly that "they're safe, they're effective," and they "are saving lives." With hundreds of millions of shots given worldwide at this point, the extensive international data on the vaccines' safety and efficacy have strongly and consistently backed DeSantis' statements. The vaccines are estimated to have saved over 14 million lives in 185 countries just in the pandemic's first two years .

But amid growing rumors of a 2024 presidential bid, DeSantis reversed his stance on the life-saving shots, abruptly questioning their efficacy and making unfounded claims about their safety. In December, his about-face culminated in a call for a grand jury to investigate any alleged " crimes and wrongdoing " related to the vaccines.

Though the swing appears more aimed at scoring political points than protecting Floridians' health, DeSantis' hand-picked surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, has hewed closely to the governor's anti-vaccine rhetoric and health misinformation. Since his appointment as Florida's top doctor in late 2021, Ladapo has made false claims about vaccines, encouraged vaccine hesitancy, opposed masks, downplayed the health effects of COVID-19, and promoted ineffective COVID-19 treatments, such as ivermectin .

Enlarge / An intensive care nurse cares for a patient suffering from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), who is being ventilated in the children's intensive care unit of the Olga Hospital of the Stuttgart Clinic in Germany. (credit: Getty | picture alliance )

With SARS-CoV-2 still circulating and seasonal viruses, including influenza and RSV, making up for lost time during the pandemic, the US is getting slammed by respiratory illnesses. And things could get worse as more holidays and associated gatherings approach, health officials warned Monday.

"This year's flu season is off to a rough start. Flu's here, it started early and with COVID and RSV also circulating, it's a perfect storm for a terrible holiday season," Sandra Fryhofer, chair of the American Medical Association and adjunct medicine professor at Emory University School of Medicine, said in a press briefing held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today. "Over the last few years, COVID-protective measures also prevented spread of flu and other respiratory infections, but we're really no longer in that bubble."

Cases of influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) are soaring throughout the country , with 47 states seeing "very high" or "high" activity levels, according to the latest CDC data. The agency estimates that there have been at least 8.7 million illnesses, 78,000 hospitalizations, and 4,500 deaths from flu.

Enlarge / Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adjusts her protective mask during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg )

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has experienced a COVID-19 rebound—a return of mild symptoms and positive tests after completing a course of the antiviral drug Paxlovid and testing negative—the CDC announced today.

Walensky first tested positive on October 21 and experienced mild symptoms. She completed a five-day course of Paxlovid, recovered, and tested negative. But on Sunday, October 30, her mild symptoms returned, and she once again tested positive, the agency reported.

Walensky now joins the ever-growing ranks of people reporting rebounds after Paxlovid, including high-profile rebounders such as President Biden and top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci . But, according to a small study published in JAMA Network Open last week, rebounds may be surprisingly common in all COVID-19 cases—even those not treated with Paxlovid.