The Science and Philosophy Forum

The Trump Administration has mandated that hospitals sidestep the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and send critical information about COVID-19 hospitalizations and equipment to a different federal database.

From the start of the pandemic, the CDC has collected data on COVID-19 hospitalizations, availability of intensive care beds and personal protective equipment. But hospitals must now report that information to the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC.

The change sparked concerns among infectious disease and health care experts that the administration was hobbling the ability of the nation's public health agency to gather and analyze crucial data in the midst of a pandemic.

Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-sho ... alizations

I've put a link to this on the Science Denialism thread.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=35905&p=351657#p351657

[RED FLAG]using a private contractor.[/RED FLAG]
Nothing is impossible to believe about the Trump regime. There is not even any point reserving stores of surprise, shock and horror - because you can be damn sure he's desperate enough to do all of it.
Can you imagine the document that eventually arrives at CDC? Pretty much every document that makes it out of that white house alive has big black lines over every line.
Can they really force hospitals to do this? Are local health authorities not in charge of their chains of information? If I were the administrator of a clinic or hospital, I would send duplicates to the CDC, CNN and WHO.

I also hope they send duplicates. But I think if hospitals don't comply, federal agents will force them to comply.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/ ... s-supplies

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/sk ... doctor-fbi

Not the first time this administration has tried to derail normal pathways of data collection. And some GOP dominated states like Florida, have tried to suppress CV19 mortality reports (as was reported by Toucana here, IIRC).

There was a reason founders of the US wanted to tightly restrict the powers of the executive branch. The excesses of monarchy were fresher in their minds.

I just watched Dr. Fauci in PBS News hour. He wouldn't say one bad word about the white house.
Whatever Catholics are still out there, start petitioning the Vatican for canonization proceedings right away!

Serpent » July 18th, 2020, 12:39 am wrote:I just watched Dr. Fauci in PBS News hour. He wouldn't say one bad word about the white house.
Whatever Catholics are still out there, start petitioning the Vatican for canonization proceedings right away!

I'm wondering how much Fauci will take before he resigns in disgust. But he seems not to want to do that, which is concerning in itself.

charon » July 18th, 2020, 1:22 am wrote:I'm wondering how much Fauci will take before he resigns in disgust. But he seems not to want to do that, which is concerning in itself.

? Why is it concerning? My guess would be:
- He's built a reputation strong enough to persuade people to take precautions.
- Someone has to provide a voice of reason, to balance all the bat-shit.
- He doesn't want to be seen abandoning his post in time of peril - especially in favour of a Trump appointee.
- He's just plain dedicated to the job. (I sure wouldn't want it!!)

PS - besides, he has the example of Justice Ginsburg, hanging on by her fingernails, against far more difficult conditions. He figures he can ride it out for a few more months and retire after the election.

Serpent » July 18th, 2020, 2:40 pm wrote:

charon » July 18th, 2020, 1:22 am wrote:I'm wondering how much Fauci will take before he resigns in disgust. But he seems not to want to do that, which is concerning in itself.

Why is it concerning?

I think I've got this wrong because he doesn't actually work for Trump. I thought he did.

Have you seen this?

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/health/2 ... sr-vpx.cnn

Oh, now I got caught flat-footed. Never mind; I'll save some of it anyway.

Regarding an independent voice:
One problem with that, of course, is to find a platform on which to stand firm and be heard. Seems like, all the people who resigned in disgust almost immediately disappeared. It takes too long to get a book written, printed and published and then get back on the talk-show circuit. An awful lot of people die in the meanwhile.
The even bigger problem is the replacement. What's the current casting situation? Who'd replace him? And what kind of toxic bilge would the replacement spew forth from that high platform?
Obviously, this is all speculation.

Here's another bit of speculation. If there was such an order from the white house, and Dr. Collins resigned in protest, they would both be out of the cockpit. OTH, forcing the issue and getting noisily, blisteringly, blusteringly fired in a hail of misspelled tweets - that could garner some attention, and win more speaking opportunities. That's probably how I'd play it.
I don't really know what's going on - only that it's very, very bad.