Minnesota health officials say it was a complete surprise to learn that the Trump Administration will now require COVID-19 data to be reported directly to them before the CDC. Minnesota and other states have been reporting daily coronavirus statistics to the CDC, but now the Trump Administration wants that data first. Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcom says the administration is even leveraging critical supplies in requiring that data.
"They will only respond to requests for PPE and Remdesivir if we're using the new platform they're prescribing. So, it's urgent that we figure out how to do this if the federal government can't be persuaded to not make this change."
According to a document the Department of Health and Human Services sent to hospitals, all coronavirus data should be sent to the government and not the CDC.
"As of July 15, 2020, hospitals should no longer report the Covid-19 information in this document to the National Healthcare Safety Network site," the document said.
The Trump Administration says it wants to streamline the information, and that the CDC is under the direction of the Department of Health and Human Services anyway.