Health and social policy

Executive Order 13994: Ensuring a Data-Driven Response to COVID-19 and Future High-Consequence Public Health Threats

President: Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Directed federal coordination of COVID-19 data collection, public dashboards, data standards and equity-focused reporting.

Status: Revoked.

Is Executive Order 13994 still in effect? No. Revoked March 14, 2025; data systems continue under separate authority.

Health workers and families surround charts, a laboratory and a public-health dashboard.
Public-health data coordination, illustrated symbolically; charts and maps do not show actual COVID-19 statistics. EO Explained · site-generated editorial illustration · not documentary evidence.

What does Executive Order 13994 do?

HHS and CDC were assigned data collection and public reporting, while OMB assessed information systems and the response coordinator aligned policy.

Later primary evidence reviewed September 24, 2026: EO 14236 expressly revoked this order. Official source. The cited steps do not establish every downstream effect.

Administration position: The order’s findings and policy rationale were the Biden administration’s positions. This guide distinguishes them from implementation records and judicial rulings.
SignedJanuary 21, 2021
Lead officialsCOVID-19 Response Coordinator, HHS/CDC and OMB
Express timing30-day assessments and ongoing reporting

Before and after

Before the order

Pandemic data arrived through fragmented federal, state, local and private systems with inconsistent definitions and timeliness.

After the order

Agencies expanded public dashboards, hospital and testing data and coordination; emergency reporting later changed, and EO 14236 revoked the order in March 2025.

EO 14236 expressly revoked this order.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
HHS and CDCImprove collection, sharing and public reportingOngoing
OMB and agenciesAssess data infrastructure and interoperability30 days / ongoing
Response CoordinatorCoordinate government-wide data policyDuring emergency

What happened next

EO 13994 signed.

Public-health emergency ended and reporting evolved.

EO 14236 revoked EO 13994.

Later primary evidence reviewed: EO 14236 expressly revoked this order.