The Trump Administration Orders Hospitals to Bypass the C.D.C. with Key Virus Data

[babylonsister]

The Trump Administration Orders Hospitals to Bypass the C.D.C. with Key Virus Data
The Trump administration ordered hospitals to bypass the C.D.C. and send key virus data to a Washington database, alarming health officials.

snip//

The Trump administration has ordered hospitals to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and, beginning on Wednesday, send all coronavirus patient information to a central database in Washington — a move that has alarmed public health experts who fear the data will be distorted for political gain.

The new instructions are contained in a little-noticed document posted this week on the Department of Health and Human Services’ website, Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports. From now on, H.H.S., and not the C.D.C., will collect daily reports about the patients that each hospital is treating, how many beds and ventilators are available, and other information vital to tracking the pandemic.

Officials say the change will streamline data gathering and assist the White House coronavirus task force in allocating scarce supplies like personal protective gear and the drug remdesivir. Some hospital officials welcome the move, saying it will relieve them of responding to requests from multiple federal agencies.

But public health experts have long expressed concerns that the administration is politicizing science and undermining the disease control centers; four former C.D.C. directors, spanning both Republican and Democratic administrations, said as much in an opinion piece published Tuesday in The Washington Post. The data collection shift reinforced those fears.

more...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/world/coronavirus-updates.html

[kairos12]

1. Jared will handle this with his abacus

[jayfish]

11. Jared OG Kushner With An Abacus?

[kairos12]

28. I bet on this kid before Jared.

[underpants]

25. Oh this definitely has Jared written all over it

He knows how to analyze the numbers betterer than anyone

[kairos12]

27. I once worked with an IT guy who, by any measure, was brilliant.

He could discuss intelligently across a varied field of subjects. His main focus of study though was mathematics. He believed it to be the "purest" of pursuits because of it's proofs, calculations, and theorems.

I, not being numbers astute, and after a long lecture of how the "soft" subjects didn't measure up, decided to mess with him.

I asked, "how much is 2+2. He said 4. I said wrong and I can prove it.

Being prepared, I said alright. I pulled 2 pieces of parachute cord from my pocket. Each had 2 small knots on them. I said will will unite these 2 pieces of string. 2 knots + 2 knots equals 4 knots. I then pointed out the joining knot. That makes 5.

2+2=5.

He howled, I laughed.

[underpants]

29. As accountants say

2+2 is what you pay me to make it

[LiberalArkie]

42. Same way with database analysts with their reports.

[Mike 03]

2. Is there a rational explanation for this other than so that the White House can edit the numbers? nt

[babylonsister]

5. I think it's to fudge all the numbers they get.

I wonder who is on the task force to handle all these numbers?

Everything they touch turns to poop; I think it's a shitty idea.

[Mike 03]

12. It's a putrid idea. It shouldn't happen. Nobody will trust the White House's numbers.

This situation is already bad enough; now it's in total collapse.

[fleur-de-lisa]

26. Dump is pissed that Fauci is popular so he keeps trying to cancel his influence.

[malaise]

3. That will work just like the no visas for foreign students

Another epic fail coming up

[babylonsister]

7. I agree, but meanwhile, their fuck-ups

will interfere with hospitals getting the PPE. Lose/lose.

[malaise]

9. He and his goons don't care who dies

They don't give a flying fuck

[KatyMan]

4. Do they have to?

What's to stop them from sending data to the FCC? I'm not at all knowledgeable in this so I guess I'm missing something.

[Mike 03]

13. Maybe the hospitals will refuse to cooperate. That's one hope I have.

[hlthe2b]

21. If they are smart they will send duplicates to CDC

[pandr32]

46. I sure hope this will be the case.

[dchill]

37. Let the non- compliance ensue.

[2naSalit]

6. Not really.

He's mad because they won't fudge their guidelines to his liking. I hope these institutions keep their data safe and share it with CDC anyway.

[MoonRiver]

8. "Orders" lol?

[stillcool]

10. I was going to say that they...

can't alter numbers that are already counted and on file, but maybe it's like votes being sent in from different precincts. They've really got a handle on the counting thing.

[Mike 03]

15. That's a good point. The hospitals would notice if the numbers were changed.

But what if the White House pools all the numbers together into one category, like "new cases in California" so the individual hospitals aren't able to determine whether or not their numbers were changed?

[stillcool]

31. all you need is the perceived possibility

...that somewhere else was different. Even if a county had x amount, each hospital in the county would be bundled so who knows? Plus the corporations that own the hospitals might play the game. So many spots along the way to tinker.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

14. Order?

How the hell do they get to order all of this stuff?!

[Kid Berwyn]

16. One Sharpie!

Ja!

[IcyPeas]

17. the hospitals should send one each to the white house and the CDC

then let's compare and contrast the numbers.

[LiberalLovinLug]

38. That's the obvious choice

Why not send to both? What would the White House even give as an excuse for that? They still get the data.

This is a rhetorical question obviously.

[liberalla]

18. Things will be greatly improved very soon! Good news on the way!

We're going to whip this virus into shape and soon it will just go away....

[rurallib]

35. just in time to get the kiddies back in school, I betchya

[Champp]

19. EVIL: Republicans bury the truth

as they bury they dead caused by their malfeasance.

[Zoonart]

20. Dr.'s take an oath

this runs contra to their prime directive to "First do no harm."

Idiot in the White House has never been loyal to anything in his life, especially not his oath of office.
NO... he will politicize and propagandize the death of Americans.

What is it going to take. I really don't think we can wait as a nation until November.I do not know what the remedy is, but we have elected a whole lot of people to represent us that DO know.

You know what to do.

[mr_lebowski]

22. This administration are evil and corrupt beyond words (nt)

[kimbutgar]

23. I say the hospitals should say FU and continue sending data to CDC

[TheRickles]

52. And then the feds will threaten to withhold money, and they'll fold. :-( n/t

[fleur-de-lisa]

24. Every instinct he has is dead wrong. Always. What a dumb mother fucker!

[soothsayer]

30. HHS has Caputo, a Putin guy

https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-caputo-hhs-trump-loyalist-ukraine-roger-stone-2020-4

The US health department's new communications chief is a Trump loyalist and Roger Stone associate who spread conspiracies about Ukraine and Hunter Biden

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has appointed Michael Caputo to be its new Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, a top communications position.

Caputo is a loyalist to President Donald Trump, who has worked on Republican campaigns since the 1980s, and for a Russian state-owned energy company in the 1990s as a public-relations consultant.

He is also a longtime associate of political strategist Roger Stone, who was found guilty late last year of lying to Congress and witness tampering in the Mueller investigation.

In recent years Caputo has spread conspiracy theories alleging that the investigations into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, and Trump's 2019 Ukraine phone call, were plots by elites to damage Trump's presidency.

[stillcool]

32. there you go...

[erronis]

36. Once they get the grift in their blood, it's impossible to make them back into a real human.

[moondust]

33. Contact Rebekah Jones.

Fired by DeSadist for "a repeated course of insubordination," she might have some ideas on how to overcome this corruption.

Former Florida data official creates her own Covid-19 site that shows more cases than state reports

[erronis]

34. Not sure I'd trust the WH/executive with any HIPAA information. They'll be mining

the personally-identifiable info (PII) for names, phone#s, addresses, ages, SSNs.

Expect robocalls from this new HHS organization soon.

"We noticed that you are 74 years old and have diabetes. If we told you we'd pay for your care, will you promise to vote for trump in 2020?"

[Volaris]

39. And on thursday, that server will become classified,

And every single piece of information useful to keeping ourselves alive will disappear into black hole.

Hopefully, hospitals are smart enough to make a copy of the data n send it to the CDC, as well as third data set for themselves so that comparisons can later PROVE this admin knew they were lying about the numbers they received.

[bucolic_frolic]

40. Anti-maskers are guinea pigs in a science experiment

They may not be counted, but their ranks will be diminished by election day

[Dem2theMax]

41. Each state needs to have a database that every hospital reports to,

and all of that data needs to be available online to all of us. Then we can compare the crap that will be coming out of the White House. We know it's going to be doctored information. In fact I can pretty much guarantee the numbers are going to go down almost immediately.

[patphil]

43. I didn't think the hospitals sent their information directly to the CDC.

I thought they reported to the state departments of health, who then sent the data to the CDC.
The only hospitals that would have to comply are the VA and military hospitals.
The rest can choose to do so, but still have to report to their states.
Personally I don't think this is going to get much compliance; maybe more in red states than blue, but still it's not going to be the way Trump wants it.

[Mersky]

44. Sick gambler administration continues betting against health experts

And now wants to play around with Americans’ health data?

I am not an attorney, but at a snap glance, I’d say this has all the force of a wet noodle.

The *order* seems batsh*t unreasonable in its overreach and time requirement. Am I wrong in this, DU legal eagles?

[Hugin]

45. Echos of the failed voter tracking hogwash from early in this...

Maladministration.

I have complete faith in King Kaka Midas turning the whole thing to crap on himself.

[calimary]

47. Do they have to obey this?

[Sucha NastyWoman]

51. That's the only thing that matters

Even if Trump has this authority, hospitals should treat this order with the same respect that the Whitehouse has treated all of the Congressional subpoenas.

[calimary]

56. If I were a hospital CEO, I simply wouldn't comply.

And I’d keep sending data to the CDC.

But then again, I already have a hard time acknowledging the donald’s legitimacy to hold that job he stole by cheating.

[Jim__]

48. We are now in full Soviet mode. The WH will tell us what it wants us to know.

All that's left is criminalizing having forbidden knowledge.

[Mickju]

49. This is absolutely heinous.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

50. The hospitals all need to ignore that order.

Or send the information also to the CDC and wherever else they've been reporting to.

[Evergreen Emerald]

53. They better ignore that.

Ohmygod. Think of how dangerous this is. They are trying to manipulate the data for their own personal / political gain by hiding the truth from the American people.

Rather than actually fix the problem, they want to hide it.

[nevergiveup]

54. The dictatorship is in its final stage.

God help us all.

[ancianita]

55. Fuck him. States own their own data. State taxpayers paid for that data. It's theirs.

Let him take them to court, since using law as his own weapon is all he thinks law is good for.

He literally abandoned his federal crisis duty after using his office to call a national emergency. Then he walked away from it all and told state governors, "You're on your own.

No hospital, governor or state entities should give him anything. They must not obey an abandoning dictator.

He'll only use the data to make up a revisionist Big Fat Lie about his great job in solving what everybody else BUT him solved.