photo credit: Evan El-Amin // Shutterstock
The Trump administration ordered hospitals to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and send all COVID-19 patient information to a central database in Washington, starting Wednesday, according to a Health and Human Services document updated July 10. A new report in The Washington Post says the Trump administration is trying to now block billions of dollars to states for coronavirus testing and tracing. The White House says the administration’s focus is money to schools, incentives for businesses and a payroll tax cut.
The White House has also blocked the CDC director from testifying at the House Education and Labor Committee hearing next week on how and when schools should open. In an email sent to the director, Dr. Redfield, the White House says, “Dr. Redfield has testified at least 4 times over the last 3 months. We need our doctors focused on the pandemic response.”
But isn’t this a part of pandemic response? The doctors and experts who deal with the virus and study it, should be the exact people we hear from concerning how we should respond.
So far the CDC has not released any new information on school openings since last week, but still encourages citizens to wear masks. Trump has come out saying that an increase in testing is to create the illusion for the coronavirus. He suggested that we slow down testing. In his words, “when you test, you create cases.” This is true is some states but false in others.
As for another OCVID-19 stimulus package, Trump says “a lot of progress” has been made. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin noted that the next package will include incentives for people to go back to work, and likely will not include the full $600 enhanced unemployment insurance that expires at the end of the month. Many lawmakers argued the amount proved a disincentive for people to return to the workforce.
Written by Clarke Jones