# CDC bypassed in Covid data collection **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 16, 2020, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491 "2020-07-16T13:17:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/21 "2020-07-16T15:33:37Z")
“We can’t get 100% accurate data, so who needs data?” That’s just being willfully ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/22 "2020-07-16T15:36:20Z")
> [@Kearsen1](#): > > We have had entire states infected at this point … Wait, what? Which state has been entirely infected? Or am I not understanding your point here? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/23 "2020-07-16T15:37:03Z")
The only solution is to report simultaneously to state or local health departments, or just release their data to a private not-for-profit data warehouse (or whatever you want to call it). One problem is that data reporting may be subject to federal regulation and oversight thanks to existing laws, rules, and regulations that were enacted with good intentions, never foreseeing the possibility of being manipulated by an American-hating autocrat. This country is really and truly in deep shit now, as if it wasn’t already. ---
**Author:** ![RealityCheck71](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitycheck71/32/3493_2.png) [@RealityCheck71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityCheck71)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/24 "2020-07-16T15:42:21Z")
Why are you in this thread then? Data isn’t just for internet babblers and press releases. There’s people doing actual research and building actual emergency plans. How in the hell can you be so blase about what’s recorded as reality? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/25 "2020-07-16T15:42:50Z")
I guess that’s what it is going to take. It’ll be left for local and national news gathering agencies and random instagrammers and facebookers to show the images of dead bodies piling up. The ugliness will be impossible to ignore, and there’s a good chance that suppressing the information could backfire over time. But at the same time, all this does is confirm what I (and I guess we) have long suspected, which is that this country is headed for authoritarianism. It confirms that Trump and the Republicans will do everything in their power to steal the election. It confirms that if they somehow do manage to steal it, democracy in America (at least as we’ve known it) will probably become a thing of the past. I’d expect the Chinese Communist Party or Putin’s government to rig public health data. I didn’t quite expect that they’d pull it off here, but it looks like they might. And it’s just the latest in a long line of data erasures and manipulation. If you think that it’s just Trump, we’ll be fine once we vote him out, think again. It’s not just Trump; the fact he is that his party is encouraging this behavior and they’re all in on it. And so are his 63 million voters. If we don’t think this is exactly what they voted for, we’re being naive little children. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/26 "2020-07-16T15:54:43Z")
> [@Kearsen1](#): > > The way I see it, we are all getting it at some future point. As long as hospitals aren’t overrun and we continue to slow the spread so that hospitals AREN’T overrun, the actual reporting of cases doesn’t do me any good. You’re not an epidemiologist or a health care planner, so of course the reporting doesn’t do _you_ any good. It’s for professionals who try to keep disease from spreading and hospitals from getting overwhelmed. It’s not all about you. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/27 "2020-07-16T16:00:16Z")
> [@Kearsen1](#): > > Don’t get me wrong, I am not bashing the CDC, or any strategies. I am just dubious that any reporting changes anything. If nothing is changing, that’s also a very useful thing to know. Without the data, we don’t know what’s changing. So far the data have shown us that nothing is changing for the better, it’s getting worse. This is why Trump is hiding the data; he doesn’t want you to see that he hasn’t moved the needle in any good direction while he was jerking off with hydroxycloroquine, trying to buy pharm companies, and shitting on his experts. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/28 "2020-07-16T16:05:43Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I believe the White House is ordering hospitals to _bypass_ the CDC How can the White House ORDER hospitals to do anything? ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/29 "2020-07-16T16:10:07Z")
OK, I’ll bite as to why we might want more data. One thing I would very much like to know is how this thing impacts kids. What is the death risk? People bandy numbers around, but I’d like to give you this number [that I got from this link](https://www.acsh.org/news/2020/07/14/coronavirus-covid-deaths-among-children-and-reopening-schools-14909): THIRTY kids in the US have died from COVID-19 so far. 30. Now that is obviously very sad and terrible, but people are bandying around death percentage rates based on this number and I’m here to tell you that you cannot do any kind of meaningful statistics with thirty data points. I absolutely do not want more kids to die, but if they do I WANT THE DATA. If schools open in Florida and the kid death rate goes up 1000%? I want to know that! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/30 "2020-07-16T16:16:54Z")
> [@raspberry\_hunter](#): > > OK, I’ll bite as to why we might want more data. One thing I would very much like to know is how this thing impacts kids. What is the death risk? People bandy numbers around, but I’d like to give you this number [that I got from this link](https://www.acsh.org/news/2020/07/14/coronavirus-covid-deaths-among-children-and-reopening-schools-14909): You claim you want to know how this impacts kids, but you want to limit the conversation to deaths only, ignoring both illness and kids becoming carriers of the virus to those more vulnerable. Yeah, about that link: > **[American Council on Science and Health](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Council_on_Science_and_Health)** > > The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) is a pro-industry advocacy organization founded in 1978 by Elizabeth Whelan with support from the Scaife Foundation and John M. Olin Foundation. ACSH's publications focus on industry advocacy related to food, nutrition, health, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biology, biotechnology, infectious disease, and the environment. Its critics have accused it of being a front group for anti-science denialism. > The American Council on Science and Health (ACS... ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/31 "2020-07-16T16:24:37Z")
Oh yeah, I would love to also have more illness and carrier numbers too! (…though the latter is less of a direct data product unless we have good test and trace, right?) I didn’t intend to limit the conversation, I was just providing an example of one thing to @Kearsen1 where I thought it would be easy to argue that more data was definitely needed (whereas you might argue that we already know thousands of kids have been ill, so we have more data points there – well, not saying you would, but someone else who didn’t think we needed more data might). There are of course MANY MANY examples of needing more data as relating to this disease, and I don’t intend to limit it to kids either! I’d LOVE to have a proper cite of deaths or illness – if you have a good one please let me know. I had a hard time finding any cite at all for this – most places I could find that reported breakdowns by age reported percentages. Anyway I think we can agree we need more data 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/32 "2020-07-16T17:06:03Z")
> [@Kearsen1](#): > > those that think any opening at all will result in the extermination of the human race. Cite, please? I have not seen anyone, anywhere, take that position. I suppose there might be some fool somewhere on Twitter. ---
**Author:** ![Turki-lurki](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turki-lurki/32/7168_2.png) [@Turki-lurki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turki-lurki)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/33 "2020-07-16T18:16:12Z")
This seems to me to be the point. Does anyone know of a reputable academic center, perhaps even outside the US, that is tracking US Covid data in real time from non-federal sources? I don’t trust any governmental data from any source. Florida was caught falsifying data. It is beyond doubt that other states have too. Only a fool would trust any tRump controlled source. Academia is all that remains, I fear. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/34 "2020-07-16T18:22:45Z")
> [@Turki-lurki](#): > > Does anyone know of a reputable academic center, perhaps even outside the US, that is tracking US Covid data in real time from non-federal sources? Where is Johns Hopkins getting there information? ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/35 "2020-07-16T20:34:14Z")
Here is what their FAQ says: ### What are the sources of data informing the dashboard? The data sources include the [World Health Organization](https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports), the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html), the [European Center for Disease Prevention and Control](https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/geographical-distribution-2019-ncov-cases), the [National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China](http://www.nhc.gov.cn/xcs/yqtb/list_gzbd.shtml), [1point3acres](https://coronavirus.1point3acres.com/en), [Worldometers.info](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/), [BNO](https://bnonews.com/index.php/2020/03/the-latest-coronavirus-cases/), state and national government health departments, local media reports, and the [DXY](https://ncov.dxy.cn/ncovh5/view/pneumonia?scene=2&clicktime=1579582238&enterid=1579582238&from=singlemessage&isappinstalled=0), one of the world’s largest online communities for physicians, health care professionals, pharmacies and facilities. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/36 "2020-07-16T20:40:02Z")
This an obvious attempt by the so-called administration to hide the reality of the situation, like Florida did. There is no other valid excuse, I mean, explanation. Trump wants this to go away, so they’re going to give covid-19 information the same treatment that Barr gave the Mueller report. But I must admit that I’m not fooled by Trump, like so many Americans inexplicably are. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/37 "2020-07-17T07:18:03Z")
> [@Kearsen1](#): > > I have seen both sides screech, it got old, I quit listening. …heard screeching, it got old, I quit listening. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/38 "2020-07-17T10:56:02Z")
I for one would like to welcome the new medical adviser to the president’s Pandemic Response Team, [Dr. Lysenko](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trofim_Lysenko). ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/39 "2020-07-17T22:11:41Z")
In case anyone missed it, Trump is now trying to suppress the CDC altogether: > **[White House blocks CDC from testifying on reopening schools next week | CNN...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/17/politics/white-house-cdc-house-testimony-schools/index.html)** > > The White House is blocking US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield and other officials from the agency from testifying before a House Education and Labor Committee hearing on reopening schools next week, just as... This is the most blatant example yet of this shamelessly irresponsible self-serving orange ignoramus literally putting millions of Americans at risk and likely costing many thousands of lives, just so he can lie about the numbers and make himself look better. There hasn’t been anything like it since the worst of the Soviet Union and Nazi propaganda campaigns. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491/40 "2020-07-18T00:39:53Z")
I can’t believe the news media aren’t making more of this. NYTimes and WaPo both have this story in the “Politics” section. This is a lot more than politics. This is going to affect everything about how hospitals and health departments fight this disease. > **[With CDC Sidelined, Some States Lose Access To Timely COVID-19 Hospital Data](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/07/17/892357733/with-cdc-pulled-off-data-collection-some-states-lose-access-to-covid-hospital-da?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news)** > > Health and hospital officials in two states report that a Trump administration change to how pandemic data is collected has left them unable to access vital information. > Just as the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 approaches new highs in some parts of the country, hospital data in Kansas and Missouri is suddenly incomplete or missing. > > The Missouri Hospital Association reports that it no longer has access to the data it uses to guide statewide coronavirus mitigation efforts, and the Kansas Hospital Association says its hospital data reports may be delayed. > > The Trump administration this week directed hospitals to change how they report data to the federal government and how that data will be made available. > > In an email, Missouri Hospital Association spokesperson [Dave Dillon](https://web.mhanet.com/staff-directory-list.aspx) called the move “a major disruption.” > > “All evidence suggests that Missouri’s numbers are headed in the wrong direction,” Dillon wrote. “And, for now, we will have very limited situational awareness. That’s all very bad news.” > > The absence of the data will make it harder for health and public officials, as well as the general public, to understand how the virus is spreading. > … Actually, the MAIN thing I don’t understand about the news media is why every print, digital, TV, radio outlet, and social media platform in the country isn’t calling all day every day for trump’s resignation (except FOX, of course). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cdc-bypassed-in-covid-data-collection/915491.md?page=3)