WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.), all members of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, wrote to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requesting that the agencies issue detailed guidance for colleges and universities for reporting COVID-19 cases. Their letter also asks how the federal health agencies plan to study outbreaks in congregate settings like institutions of higher education in order to understand the effectiveness of different mitigation strategies.

“Because of the susceptibility of college campuses to outbreaks and the frequency of student travel across state lines, we urge you to coordinate with state and local health officials to ensure complete, transparent, and timely national reporting of COVID-19 cases linked to institutions of higher education,” the senators wrote to HHS and CDC. 

Nearly 40% of higher education institutions plan to have at least some form of in-person instruction in the fall, with another 25% still working out their plans, according to a recent survey. A New York Times survey of four-year colleges and universities linked nearly 6,000 COVID-19 cases to campuses, with infections reported among students and support staff alike. Campuses including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Oklahoma State University have already seen clusters of infections among students who have returned to campus. The CDC’s guidance for colleges and universities encourages coordination with local health officials, but it does not mandate reporting, nor does it specify a standardized format, level of detail, or frequency of reporting to authorities or disclosure to the public.

“This lack of guidance is likely to create a patchwork of inconsistent information across states, localities, and the nation, undermining transparency and efforts to address the pandemic,” the senators added.

The senators urged HHS and CDC to provide further guidance to institutions of higher education about how COVID-19 cases should be reported to state, local, and federal health officials, including the timeline for reporting suspected and confirmed cases, demographic data that should be provided for each case, and how reporting should comply with applicable privacy laws. It also asks whether the agencies have plans to aggregate and publish data, including demographic data, as well as how they plan to study outbreaks in order to understand the effectiveness of different mitigation strategies. Finally, it asks whether and how HHS and CDC have coordinated with the U.S. Department of Education regarding COVID-19 data collection at institutions of higher education. 

Murphy has repeatedly called for more detailed national COVID-19 data reporting in order to treat and contain the virus and address how the virus is disproportionately impacting communities of color. Earlier this month Murphy and Smith introduced the Improving Social Determinants of Health Act of 2020 which would authorize the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to work on improving health outcomes and reducing inequities by investing in the efforts of the federal government.

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