Q&A
Communication with federal agencies and alternative information sources
0:31:15
ยท
6 min
Dr. Michelle Morse discusses the challenges in maintaining communication with federal agencies, particularly the CDC, and outlines alternative sources of information for public health guidance.
- Communication with the CDC has been limited, with periods of complete halts
- The CDC has resumed publishing the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report)
- Approximately 1,300 people were recently fired from the CDC, impacting communication
- DOHMH is exploring alternative sources of information, including coordination with the New York State Health Department and other regional partners
- The department participates in the Big Cities Health Coalition for information sharing among major cities
Lynn Schulman
0:31:15
I presume that the Department of Health has liaisons that you work with in the federal government.
0:31:22
Are those liaisons still there and if not do you have access to folks in the federal government right now?
Dr. Michelle Morse
0:31:29
That's a phenomenal question.
0:31:32
I will emphasize that you know the superpower that we have in public health is data and data sharing and sharing data and both elevating that data when needed is in many ways the lifeblood of public health.
0:31:47
It is very important to us that we keep lines of communication open with the CDC.
0:31:52
There were several weeks where communication was halted completely.
0:31:59
I find that to be very risky and I know that many of the experts in our agency in New York City find that to be concerning.
0:32:09
There was also a period of time when the CDC was not releasing the MMWR, which is their standard weekly updated kind of guidance, expertise, and investigations about key public health events.
0:32:24
Those have resumed, which is reassuring.
0:32:27
I hope that they continue to be published every week because we do rely on that guidance from the CDC to be aware of emerging public health threats and the gold standards for guidance for managing all kinds of different diseases.
0:32:42
In terms of our communications in the New York City Health Department with our colleagues at the CDC, Some of that is happening.
0:32:51
It is not quite happening at the level that we would like, but we also acknowledge that with this federal transition a lot has changed and unfortunately we're aware of somewhere around 1,300 people being fired from the CDC in recent days.
0:33:07
So that all of those actions impact our ability to maintain open lines of communication with the CDC, but we do do our best to continue to be in communication to make sure that New York City residents are safe and that we have the most up to date information we need to protect the health of the public.
Lynn Schulman
0:33:28
As a follow-up to that, do you have a plan in place should communication from federal agencies or the CDC be paused again?
0:33:36
And what I'm also asking is part of that is what alternative sources does DOHMH look to absent trustworthy clinical guidance at the federal level?
Dr. Michelle Morse
0:33:47
Thank you for that question.
0:33:48
I think we are learning to be nimble and adapt in many ways to this new context, although it has been very challenging.
0:33:58
It is hard to predict if and when there may be another pause in communications.
0:34:04
Any pause in communications, any official pause in communications puts New Yorkers at risk because we do need to have reliable information and be in close and constant contact with the CDC.
0:34:17
In terms of planning around how we might manage if there were to be another pause in communications and what some alternative sources of data might be, first and foremost we are communicating very regularly with the New York State Health Department.
0:34:33
I do think that that coordination serves us very, very well.
0:34:37
I also am aware that the New York State Health Department recently launched a weekly global public health disease notification that helps the public be aware of global public health threats, and I think that that's really important.
0:34:55
We in the New York City Health Department also do a monthly global health report.
0:35:00
And there's more and more conversation happening amongst public health experts about how we can work very closely with partners in our region.
0:35:10
And that would be, you know, the states surrounding us and others to share information, to prepare and do emergency planning, and to examine how we share data with each other as well.
0:35:23
So those conversations have started.
Lynn Schulman
0:35:26
And I in our offline communications I know we've discussed too that the American Medical Association and others are trying to do a roundabout in terms of that kind of information and so I assume that you guys are plugged into that as well as talking to, in addition to the region, do you talk to other cities and other parts of the country?
0:35:48
I don't know if there's any, I mean like I said it's all fairly new now but if there's any, if there are any plans to get together with some of those cities, two major cities around the country.
Dr. Michelle Morse
0:35:59
Yes, thank you for that question.
0:36:01
We do also, we coordinate certainly with local and regional public health partners.
0:36:07
We also coordinate with local hospitals and health systems, the state as I mentioned.
0:36:13
Other partners that we have.
0:36:15
We're very lucky to be a part of the big cities health coalition.
0:36:19
In fact that was founded by a Former New York City Health Commissioner.
0:36:24
And that body is intended to do exactly what you're describing, make sure that there is information sharing across public health leaders in big cities across the nation for us to, you know, basically trade notes about what we're seeing in our communities, what our concerns are, share examples of successes and what's working, and really again be innovative and nimble to adapt to make sure that no matter what changes at the federal level, we're able to do our best to protect the health of the people living in our cities.
0:36:58
And the final thing I'll say on that is we are very also lucky to have annual convenings and there is an upcoming convening of that particular group, big cities, as well as NYSEYCHO, which is a national organization that really helps to do coordination of public health departments as well.
0:37:16
Excuse me, NACHO.