US Government to Report COVID-19 Information Directly to HHS... Controversy Over Bypassing CDC

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[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The U.S. government has instructed frontline hospitals to send COVID-19 patient information directly to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) instead of going through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sparking controversy over so-called 'CDC passing.'

According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 14th (local time), HHS announced on its website that starting from the 15th, COVID-19 information should no longer be reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) site. NHSN is a system through which the CDC collects information from over 25,000 medical institutions nationwide. The U.S. government has instructed hospitals to report directly to a newly introduced central system by HHS instead of NHSN.

The information reported daily by frontline hospitals includes key data necessary for tracking COVID-19, such as the number of available hospital beds and ventilators. The government states that this change in the information collection agency will allow the White House COVID-19 Response Task Force (TF) to allocate scarce resources like treatments and protective equipment more efficiently.

However, since HHS's information is not publicly disclosed, there are concerns that health authorities who have been making COVID-19 forecasts or important decisions based on existing CDC data, as well as researchers developing predictive models, may face difficulties in their work. Jen Kates, Director of Global Health at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit health organization, said, "Public health information has historically been sent to the CDC first," adding, "This notice raises questions about reducing accessibility not only for researchers but also for the public and journalists seeking to better understand the situation."

Some critics argue that the move to bypass the CDC was intentional, noting that President Trump recently publicly criticized the CDC regarding school reopening and has been at odds with the agency. The NYT reported, "The Trump administration has taken control of COVID-19 information away from the CDC," and "Frontline hospitals were instructed to 'ignore' the CDC."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.