longer obligated WAVY (Portsmouth, Virginia) — A significant post-pandemic milestone was reached this week when hospitals were released from their mandate to notify the government of COVID-19 admissions.
In 2020, the federal government started tracking the COVID virus in communities almost immediately after the masks were put on. Reports of positive testing and hospital admissions were mandated for states and hospitals.
The test reporting requirement was lifted last year, but hospitals are now required to record RSV and flu in addition to COVID.
According to Elena Disking, manager of the VDH Respiratory Disease Program, “the reporting from hospitals becomes voluntary with the sunset of these requirements.” “Considering the importance of these data, [the] CDC has strongly encouraged hospitals to continue reporting voluntarily.”
Dashboards powered by the data, like the CDC’s weekly Flu View report, allowed you to view the extent of the flu activity in your area.
Therefore, Disking added, “I think it’s really important for folks to monitor the trends of respiratory viruses, especially those who need to watch more closely their own health or the health of those around them.”
Disking claimed that while obligatory reporting was only one component of the jigsaw, VDH could still monitor the spread of viruses.
Visits to the emergency room are therefore among the quickest ways to spot changes in such patterns, the speaker noted. And that’s actually what we would identify as sort of our main indicator at this time.
Disking anticipates that hospitals will nevertheless share the information. They are able to carry it out willingly. Additionally, a new rule proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would effectively bring back obligatory reporting as of October 1.
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