The CDC will continue tracking seasonal influenza amid the ongoing government shutdown, according to a report from STAT.
While previous coverage from multiple news outlets, including STAT, suggested the CDC would suspend its state-by-state flu monitoring program during a government shutdown, an unnamed senior White House official informed STAT Friday night the agency would continue tracking the flu.
"CDC will specifically be continuing their ongoing influenza surveillance," the official said, according to STAT. "They'll be collecting data reported by states, hospitals, [and] others, and they'll be reporting that critical information needed for state and local health authorities."
This statement contradicts information contained in an HHS contingency staffing plan posted to the agency's website Friday morning. The contingency plan stated 50 percent of HHS employees would be furloughed in the event of a shutdown and said the CDC "would be unable to support the annual seasonal influenza program, outbreak detection and linking across state boundaries using genetic and molecular analysis."
In the CDC's most recent seasonal flu update issued Friday, the agency reported 10 new pediatric flu deaths, bringing the pediatric flu death toll to 30 for the 2017-18 season. The agency also reported widespread flu activity in every state in the continental U.S.
More articles infection control:
'Almost every patient in the hospital has the flu': How hospitals nationwide are coping with the influenza epidemic
Early antiviral treatment can reduce flu outbreaks in long-term care facilities, study finds
Study: Patient vaccine reminders boost immunization rates