Congress demands CDC hands over everything it knows about China's mystery pneumonia outbreak

A Congressional committee tonight sent a scathing letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention demanding it be more transparent regarding the mysterious outbreak of pneumonia in China, stressing the agency could not repeat its pandemic-era mistakes.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee addressed the letter to the new CDC Director Dr Mandy Cohen, insisting the agency answer eight questions it posed within the next two weeks. 

Members of the committee also want to see the CDC provide updates on the situation on a bi-weekly basis.

Several of the questions request information on how the health agency has interacted with Chinese health officials, if China has withheld any information, what specific information the CDC has received from China and what response efforts to the spread have been implemented.

In asking, the committee stated the CDC's typical skirting of questions would not be tolerated. They wrote: 'A response in narrative form that does not address each individual question is unacceptable.' 

The letter, signed by Republican Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Morgan Griffith and Brett Guthrie, also stated the CDC cannot fail the American people as it did when responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, which it said damaged the public's trust in the organization.

Members wrote: 'If the CDC is to regain credibility with the American people, it must be transparent and forthcoming with the information it has on public health threats facing our nation. 

'It is widely known that China thwarted international efforts, including efforts by the CDC, to respond to the burgeoning COVID-19 crisis as it began to unfold in China. Even the World Health Organization (WHO), which has long been criticized for being overly accommodating to the Chinese Communist Party, has called China’s decision to withhold information from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic "simply inexcusable.”

'The WHO has now called on China to provide epidemiologic and clinical information, as well as laboratory results, on the reported pneumonia clusters among children, in addition to information on recent trends of known pathogen circulation.

'It would be an abdication of the CDC’s duty to the American people if it allows China to repeat its misdeeds from the COVID-19 pandemic.

'The American people should not have to rely on the unaccountable and untrustworthy WHO to communicate information about Chinese public health threats. 

'Further, we cannot allow the [Chinese Communist Party] to block the CDC from accessing the information it needs to protect Americans and assist in appropriate public health response efforts.'

China insists there is no new 'unusual or novel' pathogens and Chinese authorities say the cases are simply a rebound in severe flu and respiratory illnesses that were suppressed by lockdowns, rather than a novel virus like the one that caused the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Outbreaks of the new illness, now dubbed 'white lung syndrome' because of the way lung damage shows up on scans, were first made public November 21, though the spread is suspected to have begun in May.

Two days later, WHO - still reeling from criticism it protected Beijing and parroted China's official line that Covid could not spread between people despite no evidence supporting the claim - put pressure on the country by sending an official request to authorities asking for official data and information on the outbreak.

China arranged a teleconference with WHO last week to provide the data requested, and the agency said the information provided indicated the clusters of cases were from known pathogens.

WHO is now requesting more data from China and Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist, said the agency was 'following up with China' as hospitals across the country continue to be overwhelmed.

China has not revealed how many people have been hospitalized or died in the outbreak, but it appears to be mainly affecting children.

Doctors on the ground say they are seeing children with high fever and lung inflammation, but without a cough or pulmonary nodules — lumps on the lungs that are usually the result of a past infection.

There have been reports of overwhelmed pediatric hospitals in several Chinese cities including in Beijing and 500 miles away in the north-east province of Liaoning.

Face masks and social distancing are again being recommended in a chilling echo of the early days of Covid. 

Regarding the unfolding situation in China, the CDC said in a statement to DailyMail.com: 'CDC is in touch with local health authorities and its country office in China. Initial reports indicate that there have been simultaneous increases in a number of known respiratory illnesses, resulting in a spike in hospitalizations. We continue to monitor the situation, collaborating with global health partners.'