When COVID-19 reached the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Protection tracked data related to its spread.
However, President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force wrested control from the CDC, with the launch of HHS Protect.
The main pandemic data tracking system is run by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Federal and state officials use HHS Protect’s data to assess the burden of disease across the country and allocate scarce resources, from medicines to PPE.
The problem is, HHS Protect’s data often diverge dramatically from those collected by other sources, including hospitals, states, and federal agencies.
And according to Science Magazine, the data also varies from the apparent reality on the ground.
A CDC internal analysis completed this month shows HHS Protect's data problems are a national problem.
The HHS Protect data are poor quality, inconsistent with state reports, and the analysis is slipshod. And the pressure on hospitals is through the roof. Confidential Source, CDC