NC Given No Warning Before Fed COVID-19 Data Collection Change

NORTH CAROLINA — A new policy requiring hospitals send their coronavirus data to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — and not the Centers for Disease Control — has dramatically increased the data elements that needed to be collected and with no warning, according to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services secretary Mandy Cohen.

"The state has been reporting to the federal government on behalf of the hospitals up until now," Cohen said during a news conference Thursday. "This was a very abrupt change. I don't think we got any warning that it was coming."

Wednesday, the Trump administration announced that data related to coronavirus hospitalizations would no longer be collected by the Centers for Disease Control, but instead a private technology firm contracted by the HHS. Proponents of the new policy say it will streamline data collection, however critics contend it's a move meant to sideline the CDC as the primary source of public information, the Associated Press reported.

In North Carolina, the policy change means hospitals will report their COVID-19 data that includes virus-related treatment and deaths directly to both the federal government and state public health officials.

"Unfortunately that means they have to do double the reporting, but we're hoping as we ingest the new requirements from the federal government that we can go back to streamlining that, so we can again report on behalf of the hospitals," Cohen said.

"We went from needing to report 30 data elements to something like 96 data elements overnight," Cohen said. "That is not something that happens overnight."

The move also raises concerns about what the change in data collection means for transparency and the national response to the pandemic.

"We all have questions now, when that data is going to the federal government, what visibility is coming back," Cohen said. "We will continue to be transparent at the state level but I think it always helps for us to be able to compare with what's going on in other states and understand where we fit in the national landscape."

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North Carolina's tally of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus rose to 93,426 Thursday, an increase of 2,160 newly confirmed cases reported in the span of a day, according to DHHS data.

The state also reported a total of 1,588 coronavirus-related deaths, 20 more than reported Wednesday.

As of Thursday, 1,134 patients were being treated in North Carolina hospitals for coronavirus-related illnesses, reflecting a decrease of eight patients since Wednesday, according to DHHS data.

Hospitalizations "are slightly up, but we have capacity in our state," DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen said during a news conference Thursday.

A survey of 90 percent of the state's hospitals Thursday indicated there were 4,529 empty inpatient hospital beds and 444 empty intensive care unit beds — about 20 percent — remaining in the state. Ventilator supplies remain plentiful, according to the survey, with about 2,445, or 73 percent, of the state's supply remaining available, DHHS said.

SEE ALSO: NC Schools To Reopen, Offer Choice For Online Learning: Cooper

Globally, nearly 14 million people have been infected by COVID-19, and nearly 586,000 people have died, Johns Hopkins University reported Thursday. In the United States, more than 3.5 million people have been infected and nearly 138,000 people have died from COVID-19.

SEE ALSO:

• CMS Schools To Begin In-Person, Go Full Remote: Details
• Coronavirus Relief Loans In Charlotte: Where PPP Money Went
• No Doctor's Referral Needed Now For COVID-19 Testing In NC