Forgive us for being skeptical, but President Trump’s order for all medical centers to cease reporting their COVID-19 patient data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sounds fishy.
The order was issued in a low-key memo to governors and their hospitals on Friday, to take effect Wednesday.
Hospitals now are to direct their COVID-19 data to a third party entity, TeleTracking, where, we fear, it will be cataloged under “Do Not Disturb.”
We say this because the information collected from here on out will not be available to the public, according to the memorandum.
This is a huge departure from the 74-year practice of the CDC being not only the repository and distributor of public health information but also the nation’s guiding light when it comes to fighting deadly pathogens such as HIV, Zika and Ebola, and viruses such as SARS and now COVID-19.
Those who deal with infectious diseases — and not politics — are concerned that bypassing the CDC jeopardizes the information, including patient outcomes, that is critical to helping determine the virus’s treatment and our future course.
Others worry that the data may be “massaged” to fit a political narrative.
Surely not.
THAT THE greatest health crisis in generations has occurred during the administration of Mr. Trump is everyone’s worst nightmare.
A doubter of science, he has been loath to address COVID-19 as the emergency it is. Today, the United States has more confirmed cases, 3.6 million, and deaths, 140,100, than any other country. Undoubtedly this is bad PR for the president, but his attempts to dismiss the data — including this effort to bury valuable information — only worsen his case.
THIS NEW directive will move the data of medical centers to that of the Department of Health and Human Services led by political appointee Secretary Alex Azar.
Azar is known for most recently disputing CDC statistics for the number of COVID-19 cases, intimating increased testing was the cause for the higher numbers.
Public health professionals took a deep breath.
Yes, they explained, broadened testing is revealing more total cases, as well as a higher rate of positive cases. So no, the outlook at this point is not rosy
OUR HOPE is that Congress will intercede not only in this affair but also in the national response to the pandemic.
