The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) can collect coronavirus-related hospital data again, said coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx of White House coronavirus taskforce.
In mid-July, hospitals were instructed to bypass the CDC and send daily patient information directly to a central database operated by the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC
Speaking at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion earlier this week, Birx said a “revolutionary new data system” was underway so that data collection could be moved back to the CDC, although they did not specify a time frame.
Response Coordinator White House Coronavirus Dr. Deborah Birx talks to reporters at the State Capitol roundabout in Lincoln, Neb., Friday, August 14, 2020. (AP Photo / Nati Harnik)
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“We have an interim system, it’s only an interim one, to get daily reports from hospitals about new admissions,” Birx said. “I think it has been critically important to support the states.”
Birx said the “interim system” helps the federal government send therapies such as antiviral inhibitors, and personal protective equipment such as gloves, masks and jackets, to hospitals where they are most needed, which is common for smaller community hospitals except larger chains.
“We still have a ways to go to continue improving on that system,” she added. “For the first time, I can see every new permit in the country every day, and that has been extremely important.”
Following the July shift, Michael R. Caputo, a spokesman for health and human services, told the New York Times that “the new, faster and more complete data system is what our nation needs to defeat the coronavirus, and the CDC, an operative “division of HHS, will certainly participate in this streamlined response of the entire government. They will simply not control it anymore.”
At the moment, Caputo said “the CDC still has at least one week delay in reporting hospital data,” adding “America requires it in real time.”
Heavy criticism follows the re-route of data to the Trump administration, with four former CDC executives – who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations – accusing President Trump and top coronavirus task forces of releasing scientific data from politicians the National Institute of Public Health.
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
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