A health data expert says that the Trump administration is withholding data about the Covid-19 virus to outside researchers that would enable them to devise strategies against its spread. Since March the government has been compiling data on hospitalizations, deaths, testing, timing of social distancing mandates and other information that should be shared. (The New York Times, October 24, 2020, by Christopher J.L. Murray)
In July the administration ordered hospitals to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and send all virus information to a central database in Washington, D.C. The administration claimed the new system would make reporting speedier, but critics said they were concerned that the administration would bend the data to their political needs or withhold crucial information that would damage their standing. (The New York Times, July 14, 2020, updated September 9, by Sheryl Gay Stolberg with Reed Abelson )