While the CDC did still update a select few data pages this week, pauses in other vital communications such as the agency’s MMWR journal have outside experts concerned.
Key points you should know:
- Officials from the new Trump administration have instructed federal health agencies to “pause” all public communications, including scientific reports and updates to public websites.
- The pause has stalled many important CDC communications, including updates to some COVID-19 and other infectious disease data pages and new reports in the agency’s MMWR journal.
- However, some CDC COVID-19 data have been updated this week, including the agency’s wastewater surveillance dashboard, hospitalizations, and emergency department visits.
- There are exceptions to the pause for announcements that federal officials “believe are mission critical,” a CDC spokesperson said in a statement to The Sick Times. It is unclear how officials make this determination.
- While some data remain available, outside health experts and journalists have expressed concern that frontline clinicians may be without key updates during a period of high infectious disease spread and increased bird flu risk.
Listen to Betsy discuss this story on our podcast (timestamp: 4:44):
The U.S. government has stopped updating some of its public COVID-19 data, as part of a “pause” to public federal health communications under President Donald Trump. While federal officials have not formally announced any details, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has missed scheduled updates to some infectious disease dashboards this week.
A few crucial data pages, including the agency’s wastewater surveillance dashboard, were updated despite the pause. But other missing updates and reports represent a huge blow to our ability to track COVID-19, as well as other infectious diseases — several of which are spreading at high rates this winter — outside experts say. The CDC is also operating without clear leadership, as this is the first new administration under which its director must be confirmed by the Senate, CBS News reported this week.
During this pause, frontline public health authorities and clinicians are less prepared to respond to crises, including the continued spread of the bird flu H5N1 and any novel outbreaks that may emerge, said Maryn McKenna, a longtime public health journalist and author.
McKenna has “spoken informally” to a few people working at the CDC who “hope this is a temporary pause” rather than “permanent censorship,” she said. But the situation is very uncertain.
Trump administration officials directed health agencies to “pause all external communications,” the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. This includes health advisories, weekly scientific reports, and updates to public websites, per the Post. The pause will be in effect through February 1, the Post later reported in a follow-up story on Thursday.
Since that news broke, journalists and health commentators have flagged several health communications that have not proceeded on their usual schedule. For example, the CDC did not publish new studies in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), a public journal that publishes an update every Thursday. This week, MMWR was scheduled to publish three new reports about H5N1, according to the Post.
This is the first time since 1960 that there has been a break in MMWR publication, said Dr. Tom Frieden, former CDC director and president of the global health organization Resolve to Save Lives, in a statement on Twitter/X. “Every day this vital publication is delayed, doctors, nurses, hospitals, local health departments, and first responders are behind the information curve and less prepared to protect the health of all Americans,” he wrote.
In addition, the CDC did not update its data tracking how many people have received seasonal COVID-19 and flu vaccines, CBS News reporter Alexander Tin flagged on social media. “Under the previous administration, these figures were published virtually every Wednesday by 1 p.m.,” Tin wrote.
The CDC’s COVID-19 and flu data pages are typically updated on Mondays and Fridays by 8 pm Eastern. The Sick Times surveyed several of these pages, and about half those we checked had been updated as of 8 pm on January 24.
Updated this week:
- Wastewater surveillance data for COVID-19, flu, RSV, and mpox, including national and regional trends and state-by-state trends
- Respiratory virus activity levels, including updates to COVID-19, flu, and RSV
- Hospitalizations associated with COVID-19 (from the COVID-NET surveillance network)
- Current epidemic trends for COVID-19 and flu
- H5 bird flu current situation (case counts and other updates)
Not updated this week:
- National COVID-19 trends for deaths, emergency department visits, test positivity
- State-by-state trends for the same metrics
- Weekly U.S. flu surveillance report
- FluView data dashboard
- Hospital respiratory data dashboard
- Preliminary estimates of COVID-19 burden
In response to questions from The Sick Times about the CDC’s infectious disease data, a spokesperson sent the following statement:
HHS [the Department of Health and Human Services] has issued a pause on mass communications and public appearances that are not directly related to emergencies or critical to preserving health. This is a short pause to allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization. There are exceptions for announcements that HHS divisions believe are mission critical, but they will be made on a case-by-case basis.
It is unclear how HHS and CDC officials have decided which data pages and reports are “mission critical” and which are not. Notably, some COVID-19 figures are up-to-date on one page but not another; for example, the CDC posted test positivity numbers to its data portal site on Wednesday, but has not updated the same numbers on its COVID-19 dashboard as of Friday.
While the Trump administration is reportedly “reviewing” communications during this pause, there is currently no acting leadership at the CDC. Historically, incoming presidents appointed new CDC directors immediately upon taking office. But under a new law passed in 2022, the Senate must now confirm the CDC director along with other leadership positions. Trump is expected to tap Susan Coller Monarez as acting head of the agency, CBS reported on Wednesday, but more permanent leadership is uncertain until Senate confirmation takes place.
Other federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), are similarly without leadership as Trump appointees await confirmation. Meanwhile, the pause on public communications has extended to a freeze in researcher travel and meetings, Science reported this week. It’s unclear how this break will impact COVID-19 surveillance as well as planned Long COVID and COVID-19 research, such as the NIH RECOVER program.
All the communication changes are “deeply personal for those on the front lines,” Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, author of the newsletter Your Local Epidemiologist, wrote in a post on Friday. “Entire teams are on administrative leave, and researchers face uncertainty about the future of their work. Epidemiologists ready to release critical public data have been paused.”
Non-government data providers are preparing for additional attention as the CDC’s sites go down. “We plan to continue publishing our respiratory reports, with our next one scheduled for next week,” said Newsha Ghaeli, president and co-founder of Biobot Analytics, in an email to The Sick Times. Biobot did not publish a report this week as the team is “making some updates to our data pipelines and models,” but reports will resume next week, she added. The company’s work is “not impacted by the federal government.”
“If the communication pause affects CDC data for a prolonged period of time, Biobot has the capacity and funding to onboard impacted communities who want to ensure data generation (at no cost) during this period of high seasonal respiratory activity,” Ghaeli wrote.
Many health communicators are deeply concerned about the changes so far. While some transition period is typical for a new presidential administration, the scope of the Trump team’s actions goes beyond what experts have experienced before.
“My honest opinion is that the current administration’s goal is to replace all government communication with pro-Trump propaganda,” said a government contractor working on health projects who asked to remain anonymous. “I expect all funding for COVID communication to go away.”
The Sick Times is following this situation and will provide more updates as it develops.
In the meantime, here are the non-CDC sites we will follow for continued COVID-19 data:
- WastewaterSCAN dashboard
- Biobot Respiratory Virus Risk Reports
- State and local COVID-19 dashboards; see this list of state and some regional wastewater dashboards
- See the COVIDPoops19 dashboard for more wastewater data sites
- Walgreens Respiratory Index (COVID-19 and flu testing data)
- COVID-Safe Schools site
If you have other data pages you’d like to recommend or news to share, reach out to Betsy at betsy@thesicktimes.org.
All articles by The Sick Times are available for other outlets to republish free of charge. We request that you credit us and link back to our website.
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