States are severely lacking the data needed to understand the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and progress of the public health response, health experts said Tuesday.
Only about 38% of essential data points are reported by states in some way, a report released by Vital Strategies shows, while 60% of indicators were not reported in any way and only 2% of exact data indicators were reported.
“In the midst of the most disruptive pandemic in more than a century and despite a tsunami of data points, we’re flying blind on the actual risk and the actual effectiveness of the response in our communities. Data are inconsistent, incomplete and inaccessible,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, president of Vital Strategies’ initiative Resolve to Save Lives, noting data gaps for nursing homes, vulnerable populations, demographic information, testing and contact tracing.
The report published Tuesday outlines 15 essential data points needed in order for people in the U.S. to understand their own risk to COVID-19 and how well each state and county is doing to reduce that risk. Data on COVID-19 can help governments and communities determine when to tighten or relax mitigation measures such as physical distancing.
The bulk of the data missing from the states has to do with testing and contact tracing.
According to the report, nine data points should be reported by states immediately.
- New confirmed and probable cases and per capita rates by date with 7-day moving average
- Percentage of new cases epidemiologically linked to at least one other case, stratified by whether part of known outbreak or not, with threshold
- New screening (e.g. antigen) and diagnostic (e.g. PCR) testing per capita rates by date, with threshold, with 7-day moving average
- Percentage of screening (e.g. antigen) and diagnostic (e.g. PCR) tests positive by date, with threshold, with 7-day moving average
- CLI (covid-like illness) and ILI (influenza-like illness) trends from emergency departments
- COVID-19 daily hospitalization per capita rates and 7-day moving average
- Percentage of licensed beds occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients
- List (to extent legally permissible in State) of long-term care and other congregate facilities (homeless shelters, correctional facilities), and essential workplace(e.g. meatpacking) outbreaks with COVID-19 cases and deaths in residents and staff
- New COVID-19 confirmed and probable deaths and per capita rates with 7-day moving average
Six other data indicators should be reported as soon as possible the report says.
- Diagnostic (e.g. PCR) test turnaround time (specimen collection to test report), by week
- Time from specimen collection to isolation of cases, by week
- Percentage of cases interviewed for contact elicitation within 48 hours of case specimen collection, including all people with positive tests who reside in the jurisdiction, by week
- Percentage of new cases from among quarantined contacts, by week
- New infections among health care workers not confirmed to have been contracted outside of the workplace, by week
- Percentage of people wearing masks correctly in public indoor settings (e.g., mass transit, shopping), based on direct observation or security camera analysis, by a standard, consistent method, by week
A couple of key findings of the report are that only eight states reported data on the source of exposure for cases and nearly 40% of states do not publish any information other than new or total confirmed cases.
Many states have dashboards that provide summary information such as total cumulative deaths, but lack more detailed information.
By reporting on the essential data points outlined, the report says the public would also have a better understanding about the disparities in COVID-19 cases and deaths and the quality of the government response.
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