Davids Slams Trump Administration’s Decision to Move COVID-19 Data Away from CDC

As coronavirus cases continue to rise in Kansas and states across the country, Representative Sharice Davids slammed the Trump Administration's decision to move COVID-19 data collection away from the US Centers of Disease and Control (CDC).

Since the pandemic began, the CDC has regularly published data on the number of coronavirus hospitalizations, as well as the availability of hospital beds and intensive care units. The decision to circumvent the CDC and instead have hospitals report data to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has raised wide-ranging concerns about public transparency and accountability.

"Public health officials, researchers and states rely on CDC data to track the coronavirus and make quite literally life and death decisions. Changing this is not only unprecedented, it puts countless lives at risk. The extent to which this Administration will go to distract from their mismanagement of this pandemic is shameful," said Davids.

In a letter to HHS Secretary Azar, Davids called the Administration to heed the widespread concerns of public health officials and experts and reverse this decision.

"In the past five months, we've seen a White House more concerned with public appearances than with public health. We've seen our experts sidelined and our institutions chipped away at – threatening the very basis of our democracy. It is time for this Administration to put politics aside and put the American people first – starting with allowing the CDC to continue to handle and report this vital coronavirus data," continued Davids.