CDC Isn't Implementing "Green Zone" Concentration Camp Protocol

23rd August 2021

CDC Isn't Implementing "Green Zone" Concentration Camp Protocol

Humanitarian settings and concentration camps aren't the same (Getty Images).

The Claim

The CDC published a document outlining its “Green Zone concentration camp protocol” where it outlines plans to send high-risk people into internment camps.

News posted on

Emerging story

In 2020, the CDC introduced guidelines on how to minimize the impact of COVID-19 within humanitarian settings. Several articles, online videos, radio hosts, and social media users claimed that the document outlines plans for CDC internment or concentration camps to be used for mass imprisonment.

A supporting image within the article body

Misbar’s Analysis

Misbar’s investigation found that the CDC document that’s referenced in this claim is not a plan to transfer US citizens into concentration camps. The document lays out a plan to help mitigate the risks associated with COVID-19 within humanitarian settings. Humanitarian settings refer to areas where humanitarian action is taking place, such as refugee camps.

The CDC guideline states that these humanitarian settings are in places such as Chad, Myanmar, and Syria. It is not something that would be carried out anywhere within the US and would not affect American citizens. The document discusses something called the shielding approach to be used in “camps, displaced populations and low-resource settings.”

The shielding approach is a method that’s used to protect high-risk individuals, such as the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions. With this approach, high-risk individuals are separated into “green zones”, away from the general population. This is done to limit their exposure to potentially infected low-risk individuals. Green zones are not concentration camps.