Reporting daily COVID cases will stop, CDC announces

Photo Source: By James Gathany, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - https://www.cdc.gov/media/subtopic/library/building.htm, Public Domain

A major shift in reporting has been announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which announced that it will publish COVID-19 cases and deaths weekly.

CDC said in a statement last week that it will shift to a weekly reporting cadence to facilitate additional reporting flexibility, reduce reporting burdens on states, and maximize surveillance resources.

According to the new guidance, local and state health departments must report COVID-19 deaths and cases to the CDC every Wednesday. According to the agency, the change will take effect on Oct. 20.

“Data processing cutoffs for jurisdictions will be every Wednesday at 10 A.M. ET for line level case and death data, and Wednesday at 5 P.M. ET for aggregate case and death data,” the CDC said.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will still provide daily data on COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to the CDC.

A number of states have shifted from daily to weekly reporting, according to White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha. He said daily reports have become unreliable.

10 October 2022