(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) today sent a letter to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Robert Redfield urging him to update daily – including on Saturdays and Sundays – the numbers of U.S. cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) posted on the CDC website. The corresponding webpage – which includes the number of U.S. cases of COVID-19, the number of U.S. deaths, and the jurisdictions reporting cases – is updated at noon only on Mondays through Fridays.

Raskin wrote: “This is not nearly as helpful as it could be. Spread of COVID-19 does not pause for the weekend, and neither should the reporting of essential public health data to maintain public understanding and confidence.”

Earlier today, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic, making this the first-ever pandemic caused by coronavirus.

Raskin continued: “We are in the midst of a public health emergency with this pandemic. Accurate and up-to-date public reporting of this data is critical to our public health efforts to minimize the spread, and mitigate the consequences, of COVID-19.”

A signed copy of the letter is available here.  

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