In a new opinion piece for Think Global Health, the Population Council’s Poverty, Gender and Youth Program Director, Thoai Ngo, with colleagues Charlotte Brasseux, Saleh Abbas and Mingqi Song, underscore that U.S. COVID-19 data remain fragmented and incomplete at national, state and city levels, leaving “the U.S. government, health officials and the public largely in the dark about how the coronavirus is infecting and killing people in their communities.”
Citing their latest analysis of COVID-19 data reporting and analyses across fifty states, Washington DC, and ten major cities from December, which builds on two previous analyses from May and August by the authors, they stress that the U.S. remains woefully under-equipped to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19.
They outline seven tangible steps to rectify the U.S. COVID-19 data crisis and urge the new administration to invest in strengthening data systems and expertise, arming themselves and fellow health officials with insights to guide prevention and containment efforts on the local and national level.