EXCLUSIVE — House Republicans are challenging conflicting data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding the number of child and adolescent deaths due to COVID-19, suggesting that overestimated statistics may be a large-scale problem for the public health agency.
Data from the CDC's COVID Data Tracker regarding deaths due to COVID-19 of those under 18 are approximately 26% higher than those reported in the National Vital Statistics System.
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Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), along with Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and H. Morgan Griffith (R-VA), launched an investigation Wednesday into the "potentially misleading and erroneous CDC data" used for public policy decision-making.
In late July, Republican members of the committee asked CDC officials for the "most accurate count that CDC can provide" of child and adolescent deaths. The agency responded that 2,292 children had died through the week ending on July 29, according to the CDC COVID Data Tracker, but that the NVSS should be considered "the primary source for COVID-19 mortality data."
When asked for the NVSS statistic, however, CDC officials responded in early October that the number of deaths through Sept. 27 was only 1,696, based on death certificate data.
"The NVSS number for child COVID deaths was substantially lower than the COVID Data Tracker number, despite including an almost two-month longer time frame," McMorris Rodgers and her colleagues wrote in a letter sent Wednesday morning to CDC Director Mandy Cohen.
The NVSS is maintained by the National Center for Health Statistics and captures data on all births, deaths, and fetal deaths from all causes across all 50 states. The NCHS also collects separate data for Washington, D.C., New York City, and five U.S. territories.
McMorris Rodgers, Guthrie, and Griffith argue that the discrepancy in the response from the CDC highlights similar concerns that have been raised by other scientists who have analyzed inconsistencies in the CDC's data concerning overreporting.
"Data-driven decision making first requires high-quality data," Cohen said in early 2020 on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in her capacity as the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
During Cohen's tenure at NCDHHS, North Carolina experienced some of the longest COVID-19 restrictions and strictest mask mandates in the country. Cohen also supported extended school closures, with schools not reopening for in-person learning until March 2021 under Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC).
Prolonged school closures, based on data on the severity of COVID-19 for youth populations, have largely achieved bipartisan condemnation for their detrimental consequences for youth. Learning loss, as well as chronic absenteeism, are problems that still affect the school-aged population that analysts surmise will continue to have long-term consequences.
"The overcounting [of child deaths] also raises questions about whether CDC used inaccurate data that led to decisions harmful to children," McMorris Rodgers and her colleagues wrote, probing whether the problem "represents a systemic issue with CDC data."
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In the letter, the majority of the committee requested that Cohen provide all documentation related to the accuracy of the COVID Data Tracker since January 2020, as well as information regarding the CDC's plans to improve data quality.
The deadline for the CDC's response is Nov. 7.