Experts warn that the federal government shutdown and job cuts at the CDC could cloud visibility into respiratory virus activity and hospitalization trends just as virus season kicks into gear.
“Everything from outreach campaigns to more logistical efforts to actually get vaccines out” could be affected by federal disruptions, Angela Rasmussen, PhD, a virologist with the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, told NBC News in an Oct. 18 report. “That information just may not be available, so it will be very difficult to coordinate a national response.”
The CDC last updated the weekly influenza surveillance report for the week ending Sept. 20.
In some states, pauses in national data dashboards on wastewater surveillance are affecting their ability to report out the latest information on virus activity, according to an Oct. 20 Stateline report. Washington, for example, relies on CDC dashboards to report out the latest data. Amid the shutdown, only state health officials can see the information. If the shutdown — now in its fourth week — continues, Washington would need to overhaul its reporting system.
Similarly, Georgia has had to pause its influenza report due to missing CDC data. In the meantime, Georgia health officials are working on a version that only pulls from state data. A spokesperson for the state’s department of public health told Stateline that there will be information gaps during the shutdown, since some hospitals report cases to the state and others directly to the CDC.
“We’re in a bit of a blackout at the moment in terms of real-time rigorous data,” Michael Hoerger, PhD, an associate professor at New Orleans-based Tulane University who works on state-by-state COVID-19 wastewater reports, told the news outlet. “Fortunately, at least nationally, we’re in a relative lull in transmission.”
Hospitals and health systems are gearing up for a unique virus season amid recent shifts in federal vaccine policy, which experts say could limit uptake and drive up hospitalizations. Disruptions to hospital-at-home programs and rising measles outbreaks are also adding layers of concern.
