“Despite its far-reaching effects, there remains no standardized reporting of COVID-19-related data within the United States, a fact that prompted the introduction of the Health STATISTICS Act of 2020 to the House last week.”
“The legislation was introduced by U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Scott Peters (D-CA), Lucy McBath (D-GA), and Anna Eshoo (D-CA), the legislation. It proposes to improve COVID-19 research by fixing data collection inconsistencies and creating an effective reporting scheme among national, state, county, and city-level efforts. To date, the lawmakers said, experts have access to only 40 percent of the data needed to fight the pandemic, a fact which has significantly slowed response efforts….”
“Failure to achieve standardization, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Thomas Frieden, would leave the assembly and use of data from public health departments, labs, and similar agencies all but impossible. Further, patient demographics are left non-compulsory in such a case, meaning figures reaching health professionals and policymakers may not be accurate…” Read the full article here.
Source: House Health STATISTICS Act introduced to improve COVID-19 data sharing efforts – By Chris Galford, August 25, 2020. Homeland Preparedness News.
