Name: Trump administration’s sudden shift on COVID data leaves Missouri in a lurch
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Trump administration’s sudden shift on COVID data leaves Missouri in a lurch

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Sign up here to get the latest health &amp; fitness updates in your inbox every week!Last chance! Subscribe with this special offer to keep readingLoading&amp;hellp;{{title}}{{description}}{{banner}}(renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax){{tagline}}{{special_title}}{{html}}You have permission to edit this article.© 2022 Lee EnterprisesShare ThisTrump administration’s sudden shift on COVID data leaves Missouri in a lurchShare thisKANSAS CITY — Just as the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 approaches new highs in some parts of the country, hospital data in Missouri is suddenly incomplete or missing.The Missouri Hospital Association reports that it no longer has access to the data it uses to guide state coronavirus mitigation efforts.President Donald Trump’s 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 called the move “a major disruption.”“All evidence suggests that Missouri’s numbers are headed in the wrong direction,” Dillon said. “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.“It’s hugely problematic,” said Dr. , a public health researcher at Washington University in St. Louis. “The only way that we know where things are going up and where things are going down and where we need to be putting resources and where we need to be planning is because of those data.”The White House instructed hospitals to report data to the Department of Health and Human Services through a new system created by a Pennsylvania-based company, TeleTracking, instead of to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The Missouri Hospital Association currently does not have access to the new HHS system, according to Dillon. He said the new system is also significantly different from the CDC system.“The new datasets for reporting are not identical and in several cases are ill-defined,” Dillon said. “That has complicated hospitals’ efforts.”In the wake of the announcement, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services posted a notice on its website this week that the daily and weekly updates on hospitals, including the numbers of people hospitalized and the availability of standard hospital beds, ICU beds and ventilators, would be temporarily halted.“Missouri Hospital Association (MHA) and the State of Missouri will be unable to access critical hospitalization data during the transition. While we are working to collect interim data, situational awareness will be limited,” the says.Dillon said the hospital association hopes to have “within a few days or weeks” hospital and coronavirus data that had been available through the CDC.“However, in the short term, we’ll be very much in the dark,” Dillon said.The hospital association will create an alternative reporting system for hospitals, according to Dillon, and plans to continue producing weekly reports, despite the uncertainty about data.The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services did not respond to inquiries regarding the data.The Trump administration said the reporting change was needed due to reporting delays and other problems with the CDC.But the move has been widely criticized for being disruptive, especially as COVID-19 infection numbers reach new highs and hospitals in some areas of the country are reaching capacity.“By now, we should have a foolproof, streamlined reporting system for COVID,” Maddox said. “And this change — midstream — is not going to do anything to help our ability to fight the disease.”This report is the product of a partnership that includes KCUR (89.3 FM), National Public Radio and Kaiser Health News.Sign up here to get the latest health &amp; fitness updates in your inbox every week!{{title}}{{summary}}You don't have any notifications.Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.Topics

Sign up here to get the latest health &amp; fitness updates in your inbox every week!Last chance! Subscribe with this special offer to keep readingLoading&amp;hellp;{{title}}{{description}}{{banner}}(renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax){{tagline}}{{special_title}}{{html}}You have permission to edit this article.© 2022 Lee EnterprisesShare ThisTrump administration’s sudden shift on COVID data leaves Missouri in a lurchShare thisKANSAS CITY — Just as the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 approaches new highs in some parts of the country, hospital...

Trump administration’s sudden shift on COVID data leaves Missouri in a lurch

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