Tag: Trump trying to bury the truth on COVID-19

Public health groups denounce new Trump move sidelining CDC

The Hill logoA new Trump administration policy that bypasses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for control of key coronavirus information is provoking outrage among public health experts.

Under the policy, quietly announced late last week, hospitals are now required to report directly to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on the number of COVID-19 patients each facility is treating, available beds and ventilators, and other data.

The CDC had been collecting that information from the start of the pandemic on its National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), which the agency describes as the country’s most widely used health care-associated infection tracking system. Continue reading.

Trump tightens grip on coronavirus information as he pushes to restart the economy

Washington Post logoPresident Trump in recent weeks has sought to block or downplay information about the severity of the coronaviruspandemic as he urges a return to normalcy and the rekindling of an economy that has been devastated by public health restrictions aimed at mitigating the outbreak.

His administration has sidelined or replaced officials not seen as loyal, rebuffed congressional requests for testimony, dismissed jarring statistics and models, praised states for reopening without meeting White House guidelines and, briefly, pushed to disband a task force created to combat the virus and communicate about the public health crisis.

Several Republican governors are following Trump’s lead as an effort takes shape to control the narrative about a pandemic that has continued to rage throughout a quickly reopening country. With polls showing most consumers still afraid to venture out of their homes, the Trump administration has intensified its efforts to soothe some of those fears through a messaging campaign that relies on tightly controlling information about a virus that has proven stubbornly difficult to contain. Continue reading.