Kansas City COVID Reporting Kaput 2024

Tonight we celebrate the end of an era as the shadow of WWIII that now looms over the planet seems more or at least equally as dangerous as the controversial pandemic.

The local angle . . .

"The University of Kansas Health System gave its last daily COVID count on its Morning Medical Update on May 1. The number of COVID patients in its health system had dwindled to four. At the height of the pandemic, the health system faced caring for some 250 COVID patients on a single day."

More deets and the bigger picture . . . 

"THE END OF MANDATORY REPORTING comes as U.S. COVID hospitalizations are around the lowest levels since the start of the pandemic but as a new variant called KP. 2 is rapidly spreading in multiple regions.

"Beyond COVID-19, the information helped guide prevention and response efforts to seasonal flu and RSV, which can also place a serious burden on emergency departments and ICUs.

"The required reporting to the CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network was scheduled to end with the COVID-19 public health emergency last May but was extended through this Tuesday, with fewer requirements.

"Since the pandemic's start, there have been 6.9 million COVID-19 hospitalizations and almost 1.2 million coronavirus-associated deaths in the U.S., per the CDC."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Hospitals can stop reporting COVID numbers. That worries some public health officials

As COVID hospitalizations dip to record lows, the federal government stopped requiring hospitals to turn over COVID data. Some say that could sacrifice a national picture of the virus, but the flow of information from hospitals to the public won't be going away.

Turning point: COVID-era hospital reporting set to end

The May 1 sunset is a turning point in the real-time tracking of respiratory pathogens.

Hospitals no longer must report COVID data to CDC, spotlighting clunky system

As COVID-19 swept over Phoebe Putney Health System and Southwest Georgia in the first days of the pandemic, residents and public health officials were desperate to know what patients had and how far it was spreading.

Developing . . .