A study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published Tuesday said that coronavirus cases may have been underreported across the country, due to the number of patients who remained asymptomatic or did not require medical treatment.
A study finding said New York City reported more than 53,800 cases of COVID-19 before April 1, but blood samples showed a number closer to 642,000, which the CDC said is almost 12 times higher.
The data is based on 2,482 blood samples taken from residents living in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Kings County and Nassau County, according to the agency’s website.
The CDC, however, have disagreed with the White House over the nation’s response to the coronavirus and have become a frequent target of President Trump.
News of the study comes less than a week after it was announced that coronavirus data from US hospitals would be sent to the Trump administration through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), before going to the CDC.
TEMPORARY COST OF NYC HOSPITAL $ 52 MILLION BUT TREATED TO FEW CORONAVIRUS PATIENTS: REPORT
Hospitals were told to avoid CDC and submit daily patient information directly to a central HHS-operated database in Washington, DC
Michael R. Caputo, a spokesperson for Health and Human Services, told the New York Times, which first reported the change, that “the new, faster, and more comprehensive data system is what our nation needs to defeat the coronavirus, and the CDC, a division operating center for HHS, will certainly participate in this simplified, government-wide response. They just won’t control it anymore. “
On Friday, House Democrats overseeing the coronavirus response sent a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar and CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield asking for the decision to be reversed, and finally it was, with restored data on the CDC dashboard online.
Trump commented on the state of the outbreak on Tuesday and said things are likely to get worse before they get better, but he also touted hope for a vaccine that he says could help change course forever.
“It will get worse before it gets better,” he said. “That is something I don’t like to say but it is … As a family, we regret every precious life that has been lost. I promise in your honor that we will develop a vaccine and defeat the virus.”
As of Tuesday night, there were more than 3.8 million infections and more than 141,000 COVID-19 deaths in the United States.
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Fox News’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
