Inside the super secure CDC Museum, which reveals the story of America’s pandemic headquarters – though there’s little on its Covid efforts
- The David J. Sencer CDC Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, explains the history and work of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, including in Asia
- The museum doesn’t focus heavily on the ongoing pandemic, although it does have a Covid-related art exhibition planned for summer 2024
My car has been searched, my ID scanned and my intent questioned by armed guards. Never before have I met such intense security while visiting a museum.
Then again, this is no ordinary museum – it’s inside the headquarters of the United States government agency whose more than 10,000 employees are tasked with tackling health catastrophes, and which has an annual budget of US$9.3 billion.
Each day, behind a dense layer of security, CDC staff monitor infectious disease outbreaks worldwide, compile health data, create public-safety programmes and coordinate immunisation services. The agency’s scientists man bureaus in more than 60 countries, in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America.
Just four years ago, the CDC had a fairly low public profile, especially outside the US. Then 2020 brought us Covid-19.
