Just as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced it will stop tracking cases of COVID-19 in line with the end of the pandemic-induced public health emergency on May 11, 35 people tested positive for the disease after attending the CDC's own annual conference in Atlanta at the end of April, according to a Washington Post report.
"The CDC is working with the Georgia Department of Health to conduct a rapid epidemiological assessment of confirmed COVID-19 cases that appear to be connected to the 2023 [Epidemic Intelligence Service] Conference to determine transmission patterns," CDC spokesperson Kristen Nordlund said, according to the report.
Many conference attendees did not wear masks or take other social distancing precautions that were in place earlier in the pandemic. All attendees were notified of the outbreak.
Infectious disease experts said the COVID-19 outbreak at the CDC conference "illustrates the persistence of an evolving virus."
While fewer than 100,000 cases were confirmed and reported during the last week of April — the lowest number of cases reported in almost two years — COVID-19 still remains on the list of top 10 causes of death in the United States this year. Public health officials said the low case numbers are likely because many cases are not tracked at all, since there is a preponderance of home testing.