Congress demands CDC hands over everything it knows about China’s mystery pneumonia outbreak

A congressional committee sent a scathing letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention demanding they be more transparent about China’s mysterious pneumonia outbreak, emphasizing that the organization could not repeat its pandemic-era mistakes

The House Energy and Commerce Committee addressed the letter to CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen and insisted that the agency answer eight questions it posed within the next two weeks. Committee members also want the CDC to provide biweekly updates on the situation.

Several questions ask for information about how the health department has cooperated with Chinese health officials, whether China has withheld information, what specific information the CDC has received from China, and what response efforts to the spread have been implemented.

When asked questions, the committee stated that the CDC’s typical sidestepping of questions would not be tolerated.

They wrote: ‘An answer in narrative form that does not address each individual question is unacceptable.’

Hospitals in Beijing and nearly 500 miles northeast of Liaoning are among those ‘overwhelmed by sick children,’ according to local news reports

The letter, signed by Republican Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Morgan Griffith and Brett Guthrie, also said the CDC cannot abandon the American people as it did when responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, which according to damaged public confidence in the organization.

Members wrote: “If the CDC wants to regain credibility with the American people, it must be transparent and candid with the information it has about the public health threats facing our nation.

“It is well known that China has thwarted international efforts, including those of the CDC, to respond to the unfolding COVID-19 crisis as it began to unfold in China. Even the World Health Organization (WHO), which has long been criticized for being overly accommodating to the Chinese Communist Party, has called China’s decision to withhold information from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic “simply inexcusable.”

‘WHO has now called on China to provide epidemiological and clinical information, as well as laboratory results, on the reported pneumonia clusters in children, in addition to information on recent trends in the circulation of known pathogens.

“It would be an abdication of the CDC’s duty to the American people to allow China to repeat its misdeeds from the COVID-19 pandemic. The American people should not have to rely on the unreliable and unreliable WHO to communicate information about Chinese threats to public health.

“Further, we cannot allow the (Chinese Communist Party) to prevent the CDC from accessing the information it needs to protect Americans and assist with appropriate public health efforts.”

China insists there are no new “unusual or emerging” pathogens, and Chinese authorities say the cases are simply a resurgence of severe flu and respiratory illnesses suppressed by lockdowns, and not a new virus like the one that causes Covid -19 pandemic.

Outbreaks of the new disease were first made public on November 21, although the spread is believed to have started in May.

Two days later, the WHO – still reeling from the criticism, shielding Beijing and repeating China’s official line that Covid could not spread among people despite no evidence to support the claim – put pressure on it country by sending an official request to the authorities requesting official data and information. on the outbreak.

China arranged a conference call with the WHO last week to provide the requested data, and the agency said the information provided indicated that the clusters of cases were from known pathogens.

China has not revealed how many people have been hospitalized or died during the outbreak, but it appears to be mainly affecting children.

Doctors on the ground say they are seeing children with high fevers and pneumonia, but without coughs or pulmonary nodules — lumps in the lungs that are usually the result of a previous infection.

There have been reports of overwhelmed children’s hospitals in several Chinese cities, including Beijing and 500 miles away in the northeastern province of Liaoning.

Regarding the developing situation in China, the CDC said in a statement to DailyMail.com: ‘CDC is in contact with local health authorities and its country office in China. Initial reports indicate that there has been a simultaneous increase in a number of known respiratory illnesses, leading to a spike in hospital admissions. We continue to monitor the situation and work with global health partners.”