Public health leaders warn dwindling COVID data risks less preparation for 'the next outbreak'

While COVID-19 ebbs -- and many of the pandemic-era policies on surveillance data and funding wind down with it -- the nation's public health leaders warned senators on Thursday that a return to "normal" should not mean forgetting the hard lessons learned over the last three years.

When the federal government's public health emergency expires next week, COVID-19 data collection tools will also end. Those tools have been described as vital to staying vigilant and preparing for emerging health threats.

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"The approaching end of the public health emergency once again reminds us that policy changes and funding are essential to the readiness of future bio-threats. The CDC will continue to closely monitor COVID-19 and provide the information to which we have access," Walensky said.

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"We will adapt to limitations and utilize tried-and-true systems to monitor other respiratory diseases, to keep our eye on COVID-19," Walensky said, "but there are data we will no longer have available because they will no longer be submitted to us. For example, certain data for a national picture of health disparities both for race and ethnicity and along urban and rural lines."

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