The decision to bypass the CDC for data reporting...
Many are asking for my opinion. I try very hard to only provide data-driven information on this page (keep politics and my opinion out). I’m a part of a large, professional group and, in the past 24 hours, epidemiologists are continuing to share “what happened”, “pros” and “cons”. I have summarized epidemiologists' thoughts thus far. So this is a qualitative data-driven update...
What happened?
The new data reporting pipeline has been under development for some time now. Due to the “official” change yesterday, data will now be fed into the Department of Human and Health Services wide electronic data management system. The CDC, as a part of HHS, will still have access to this data. But now, other HHS departments will have direct access to the data. The data will be managed by a large contracting company that many epidemiologists trust. The White House does not have direct access to the raw data.
Pros?
This will free up CDC to focus on tasks like data analysis and reporting. It MAY improve data quality. Having a central repository for this information, or a streamlined reporting system, helps minimize the burden associated with hospitals reporting these data.
Cons?
Epidemiologists are worrying about the availability of data to the general public (like excess mortality that I posted today). It may NOT improve data quality, and actually make it worse. Getting hospitals and agencies to switch from their existing reporting system to a new one can be a nightmare for data consistency.
There is a legitimate concern of politicizing science. Many epidemiologists are wondering "why now" and we haven't found the answer yet. I’ll let you know if we are successful. But, nonetheless, only time will reflect the true motivations behind this change and whether pros outweigh the cons.
Love, your local epidemiologist