A new CDC lab will cost up to $480 million:
The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it needs to replace its aging high containment lab, which handles some of the world's most dangerous contagions.
The project would cost $350 million to build. But over three years, the total budget could reach $480 million, also funding campus infrastructure improvements, such as extending utility tunnels to support the new lab. The CDC is in the early stages of asking Congress for the funds.
In its current "high containment lab" (HCL), the CDC develops and performs diagnostic tests for the deadliest disease threats, including emerging influenza viruses and viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola and Lassa fever.
[...] Without investment, the CDC's current lab will be left with only a fraction of its current research space and the agency will fall behind in protecting, defending and responding to infectious disease threats. In the next few years, it faces a risk of an unplanned and potentially catastrophic shutdown.
Meanwhile, a CDC employee has been missing since he called in sick from work.
Also at Time.
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The body of a missing CDC researcher has been found:
A body recovered this week from a river in Atlanta has been identified as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist who vanished in February, Atlanta Police Department spokesman Carlos Campos said Thursday.
The remains of Timothy Cunningham, 35, were found Tuesday in the Chattahoochee River in northwest Atlanta, Campos said.
[...] The disappearance prompted a high-profile police search and a $10,000 reward for clues. As days went on, internet rumors circulated that Cunningham's disappearance was tied to his alleged role as a flu vaccine whistle-blower. The rumors were debunked by police and his family. The CDC's director in mid-March issued a statement denying that Cunningham hadn't gotten a promotion and noting that he'd been promoted in July. Atlanta police responded by doubling down on their version of events, citing the CDC as the source of the information.
The Atlanta researcher reported missing more than seven weeks ago likely drowned in the Chattahoochee River, the Fulton County Medical Examiner said Thursday. There were no signs of foul play, investigators said.
Also at WSB-TV Atlanta and TIME.
Related: CDC Plans New Atlanta High Containment Lab
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @05:06AM (3 children)
You'd think they'd have done this sooner, esecially after this incident [bbc.co.uk] (more details here [dailymotion.com]).
We work with some really dangerous stuff, so it behooves us to make sure it's as safe as possible.
(Score: 2) by buswolley on Monday February 26 2018, @05:44AM
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/02/25/a-cdc-researcher-left-work-sick-two-weeks-ago-then-vanished/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_cdcmissing-920pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.8df8e18027a9 [washingtonpost.com]
feel free to speculate
subicular junctures
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday February 26 2018, @05:54PM (1 child)
Jessica Fletcher was really probably the most diabolical and beguiling villainous mastermind ever portrayed in a movie or TV show. Not only did she murder, premeditatively and in cold blood, countless people in her small hometown in Maine (making it per-capita by far the murder capital of the world), she even managed to brainwash other people into confessing to these crimes! It's quite possible she even somehow managed to coerce many of these people in committing the murderous act themselves. And all of this murder was done quite likely just so that she could have more stories to write about for her highly-profitable line of books. Worse, she got away with these heinous crimes for decades! I really can't think of any other characters who come close to approaching this level of sheer evil.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday February 26 2018, @06:39PM
I'd say that Eleanor Iselin [wikipedia.org] was arguably just as evil, and unquestionably at least twenty years [gettyimages.com] hotter.
I'm not really sure why I would equate a senator's wife and a retired schoolteacher turned murder mystery writer, but somehow it just seems to work for me.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 1) by Provocateur on Monday February 26 2018, @05:14AM
I for one, vote Atlanta as the new location for the CDC containment facility, but have not nominated anyone as a voluntary test subject. It's be kind to animals week.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @05:26AM (4 children)
If the CDC doesn't have proper facilities, it should simply destroy the horrible pathogens it's hoarding.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday February 26 2018, @06:15AM
Like for the Russian nukes, you'd be left with only the military planners in charge. While they are more reasonable than many elected officials, they still have a certainly biased approach towards usage and prioritization of their tools.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by canopic jug on Monday February 26 2018, @06:39AM (2 children)
It's not as much those pathogens as the pathogens found freely out in nature, such as Ebola which caused so much panic recently. However, that situation was from tne set of politicians who worked very effectively to cut funding for the CDC and were on their way towards eventually eliminating it. When Ebola hit inside the US, rather than manning up and fixing the problem in preparation against future incidents, they just doubled down and got the media to attack the president over it even though he had nothing to do with its state at the time. It appears for them that social-economic ideologies trump patriotism. So like in other countries their tactic is to defund, sabotage, then privatize.
They're still at it [nbcnews.com], even this year as well [the-scientist.com].
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday February 26 2018, @07:15AM
Well, except for some anthrax that got mailed to a member of congress awhile ago. That turned out to have come from a military bio-warfare lab...but it caused quite a bit of stir for awhile, and got a few of the recipients a bit more subdued.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @05:45PM
add "round the leadership up and execute them", and you've got my vote. fuck the big pharma shills at the CDC.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @07:23AM (2 children)
Three years seems like a pretty optimistic timeline for a BSL4 facility. I wonder if NIMBY public opposition will cause delays like the ~10 years for the NEIDL.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Emerging_Infectious_Diseases_Laboratories [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday February 27 2018, @12:10AM (1 child)
It may be less of a problem since they already have a BSL-4 lab in Atlanta.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @01:38AM
I'd hope so, but the CDC did have a containment issue a few years ago and people might see this as an opportunity to stop this kind of research. The ban on "gain of function" research just ended not too long ago and Hollywood plots seem to influence the public's opinions on the subject.
(Score: 1) by GreatOutdoors on Monday February 26 2018, @10:52PM (3 children)
In the real world, people and businesses need to plan and budget for these type of investments. It's just like saving to buy a new house or building. It irritates me that government entities refuse to plan for major investments, then cry to congress because of their poor planning and need for a shiny new toy.
I know there are people who will come back with "But it's dangerous not to do it" responses, and my response to that is: Exactly! That's why they should have planned for it!
Until we start telling them no, the agencies involved will continue to find any way they can to milk the system.
Yes, I did make a logical argument there. You should post a logical response.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday February 27 2018, @12:14AM (2 children)
They're not ALLOWED to put money aside from year to year for things like this. If they have money left over, they just get their budget cut. When their bufget is approved, it is approved for actual expenses only.
(Score: 1) by GreatOutdoors on Tuesday February 27 2018, @12:59AM
You don't see a line item for every building built by every government entity every year, so apparently they do have the ability to build and buy things they need if they plan it appropriately.
Yes, I did make a logical argument there. You should post a logical response.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @09:29AM
If that is right, they need to ASAP acquire a large pile of gold bars.