Overdue Outbreak Detection System Leaves Patchwork Defense

The U.S. should have had a nationwide network to monitor for the next viral outbreak or biological threat a decade ago. It still doesn’t.

Instead, public health leaders make do with a patchwork system while waiting for the Department of Health and Human Services races to get its integrated network in service by a new 2023 congressional deadline. Until that nationwide monitoring system is in place, the U.S. runs the risk that a biological threat like a disease outbreak will take hold before it’s noticed.

“The risk is that we don’t have the level of surveillance that we need. The ...