SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A healthcare worker answers the phone in the ER at Oakbend Medical Center in Richmond, Texas on July 15, 2020. (Photo: Mark Felix/AFP/AFP via Getty Images)
'Dangerous' and 'Horrible': Lawmakers Demand Answers After Trump Upends CDC's Covid-19 Reporting System
"It's hard to see how this step won't further sideline public health experts and obscure the severity of this crisis."
Jul 16, 2020
Lawmakers and public health experts are demanding that the Trump administration answer for its abrupt decision this week to cut the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention out of the coronavirus data-collection process, a move critics warned could impede state efforts to combat the pandemic and leave crucial information open to politically motivated spin.
"The Trump administration is going to have to give a full justification for this, because until they do, it's hard to see how this step won't further sideline public health experts and obscure the severity of this crisis," said Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
"The Trump administration has shown that they're willing to lie to the American people about this pandemic for political gain. Allowing them to have control of this important data is potentially dangerous."
--Sen. Elizabeth Warren
"CDC has had a system in place for over a decade to track infection data and hospitals and states know and trust this system," Murray added. "So it's entirely unclear why the Trump administration has asked states and hospitals to upend their reporting systems in the middle of a pandemic--in 48 hours nonetheless--without a single explanation as to why this new system is better or necessary."
The White House directive--which took effect Wednesday as coronavirus cases surge across the U.S.--instructed hospitals to bypass the CDC and instead send information about Covid-19 patients, bed capacity, and medical supplies to a Health and Human Services Department (HHS) database run by TeleTracking Technologies, a private firm that was quietly awarded a $10.2 million federal contract in April.
Democratic lawmakers have raised questions about the details of the TeleTracking contract, which remain shrouded in secrecy. In a tweet late Wednesday, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) called the Trump administration's decision to divert Covid-19 data to a system run by a private contractor "a shameful attempt to hide its incompetence."
"The Trump administration is rerouting important Covid-19 data, like racial disparities, from the CDC's public database to a private portal operated by political appointees," said Pressley. "The more he politicizes this pandemic, the more lives we risk."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) warned that given the White House's willingness to "lie to the American people about this pandemic for political gain," giving HHS control over Covid-19 data "is potentially dangerous for America and horrible for transparency."
Trump administration officials insist the directive will streamline the Covid-19 data-gathering process without hindering transparency, but health officials are worried the order will deprive experts of information the CDC previously made available to the public and cause chaos as hospitals scramble to adjust to the new reporting system.
Bruce Meyer, president of Jefferson Health in Philadelphia, told the Washington Post that the longstanding CDC data-collection system was "highly reliable and efficient."
"Sidestepping these established tracking systems creates deep concerns that we will be unable to obtain appropriate and reliable information to perform research and manage our response to the virus," said Meyer.
In a statement late Tuesday, Thomas File Jr., president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, warned that "placing medical data collection outside of the leadership of public health experts could severely weaken the quality and availability of data, add an additional burden to already overwhelmed hospitals, and add a new challenge to the U.S. pandemic response."
"At this critical time when many states are experiencing surges, reliable, comprehensive data are essential to inform the distribution of supplies and treatment," said File. "We urge the administration to follow public health expertise in addressing this public health crisis."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Lawmakers and public health experts are demanding that the Trump administration answer for its abrupt decision this week to cut the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention out of the coronavirus data-collection process, a move critics warned could impede state efforts to combat the pandemic and leave crucial information open to politically motivated spin.
"The Trump administration is going to have to give a full justification for this, because until they do, it's hard to see how this step won't further sideline public health experts and obscure the severity of this crisis," said Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
"The Trump administration has shown that they're willing to lie to the American people about this pandemic for political gain. Allowing them to have control of this important data is potentially dangerous."
--Sen. Elizabeth Warren
"CDC has had a system in place for over a decade to track infection data and hospitals and states know and trust this system," Murray added. "So it's entirely unclear why the Trump administration has asked states and hospitals to upend their reporting systems in the middle of a pandemic--in 48 hours nonetheless--without a single explanation as to why this new system is better or necessary."
The White House directive--which took effect Wednesday as coronavirus cases surge across the U.S.--instructed hospitals to bypass the CDC and instead send information about Covid-19 patients, bed capacity, and medical supplies to a Health and Human Services Department (HHS) database run by TeleTracking Technologies, a private firm that was quietly awarded a $10.2 million federal contract in April.
Democratic lawmakers have raised questions about the details of the TeleTracking contract, which remain shrouded in secrecy. In a tweet late Wednesday, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) called the Trump administration's decision to divert Covid-19 data to a system run by a private contractor "a shameful attempt to hide its incompetence."
"The Trump administration is rerouting important Covid-19 data, like racial disparities, from the CDC's public database to a private portal operated by political appointees," said Pressley. "The more he politicizes this pandemic, the more lives we risk."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) warned that given the White House's willingness to "lie to the American people about this pandemic for political gain," giving HHS control over Covid-19 data "is potentially dangerous for America and horrible for transparency."
Trump administration officials insist the directive will streamline the Covid-19 data-gathering process without hindering transparency, but health officials are worried the order will deprive experts of information the CDC previously made available to the public and cause chaos as hospitals scramble to adjust to the new reporting system.
Bruce Meyer, president of Jefferson Health in Philadelphia, told the Washington Post that the longstanding CDC data-collection system was "highly reliable and efficient."
"Sidestepping these established tracking systems creates deep concerns that we will be unable to obtain appropriate and reliable information to perform research and manage our response to the virus," said Meyer.
In a statement late Tuesday, Thomas File Jr., president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, warned that "placing medical data collection outside of the leadership of public health experts could severely weaken the quality and availability of data, add an additional burden to already overwhelmed hospitals, and add a new challenge to the U.S. pandemic response."
"At this critical time when many states are experiencing surges, reliable, comprehensive data are essential to inform the distribution of supplies and treatment," said File. "We urge the administration to follow public health expertise in addressing this public health crisis."
Lawmakers and public health experts are demanding that the Trump administration answer for its abrupt decision this week to cut the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention out of the coronavirus data-collection process, a move critics warned could impede state efforts to combat the pandemic and leave crucial information open to politically motivated spin.
"The Trump administration is going to have to give a full justification for this, because until they do, it's hard to see how this step won't further sideline public health experts and obscure the severity of this crisis," said Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
"The Trump administration has shown that they're willing to lie to the American people about this pandemic for political gain. Allowing them to have control of this important data is potentially dangerous."
--Sen. Elizabeth Warren
"CDC has had a system in place for over a decade to track infection data and hospitals and states know and trust this system," Murray added. "So it's entirely unclear why the Trump administration has asked states and hospitals to upend their reporting systems in the middle of a pandemic--in 48 hours nonetheless--without a single explanation as to why this new system is better or necessary."
The White House directive--which took effect Wednesday as coronavirus cases surge across the U.S.--instructed hospitals to bypass the CDC and instead send information about Covid-19 patients, bed capacity, and medical supplies to a Health and Human Services Department (HHS) database run by TeleTracking Technologies, a private firm that was quietly awarded a $10.2 million federal contract in April.
Democratic lawmakers have raised questions about the details of the TeleTracking contract, which remain shrouded in secrecy. In a tweet late Wednesday, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) called the Trump administration's decision to divert Covid-19 data to a system run by a private contractor "a shameful attempt to hide its incompetence."
"The Trump administration is rerouting important Covid-19 data, like racial disparities, from the CDC's public database to a private portal operated by political appointees," said Pressley. "The more he politicizes this pandemic, the more lives we risk."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) warned that given the White House's willingness to "lie to the American people about this pandemic for political gain," giving HHS control over Covid-19 data "is potentially dangerous for America and horrible for transparency."
Trump administration officials insist the directive will streamline the Covid-19 data-gathering process without hindering transparency, but health officials are worried the order will deprive experts of information the CDC previously made available to the public and cause chaos as hospitals scramble to adjust to the new reporting system.
Bruce Meyer, president of Jefferson Health in Philadelphia, told the Washington Post that the longstanding CDC data-collection system was "highly reliable and efficient."
"Sidestepping these established tracking systems creates deep concerns that we will be unable to obtain appropriate and reliable information to perform research and manage our response to the virus," said Meyer.
In a statement late Tuesday, Thomas File Jr., president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, warned that "placing medical data collection outside of the leadership of public health experts could severely weaken the quality and availability of data, add an additional burden to already overwhelmed hospitals, and add a new challenge to the U.S. pandemic response."
"At this critical time when many states are experiencing surges, reliable, comprehensive data are essential to inform the distribution of supplies and treatment," said File. "We urge the administration to follow public health expertise in addressing this public health crisis."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.