Missing Data
Two years into the Covid pandemic, many states still fail to provide timely, consistent, and complete Covid-related data.
States reporting limited or no public-facing data for key Covid-associated metrics
As of Jan 13, 2022
Sources: American Academy of Pediatrics Weekly Report, CDC: Rates of COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by Vaccination Status, Footnotes "Participating Jurisdictions", Johns Hopkins: State Reporting Frequencies, Cases. Notes: Only NYC reported age distribution of hospitalizations. States with limited data report cases less than 4 times a week.
Consistent and complete data are crucial to full and equitable recovery from the pandemic. Yet states across the U.S. struggle to provide timely and dependable data nearly 2 years after its start. In some states, data reporting has slowed dramatically or even stopped completely. 5 states report Covid case data less than 4 times a week, a shift from daily reporting in the early stages of the pandemic.1 Nearly half of states do not report hospitalizations by age, and just as many lack data on death rates by vaccination status.
Reasons for missing data vary broadly but states have historically faced challenges due to decentralized systems coupled with underfunding for public health.2 Many cities and counties have independent tracking systems that do not connect to the state systems that channel data to federal agencies like the CDC.2 As Covid case rates once again soar nationwide, experts express an urgent need for more and complete data to better assess the severity of new variants and the long-term effects of the virus.3
“State Reporting Frequencies”. Johns Hopkins University. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/state-reporting-frequencies
“Millions Of People Are Missing From CDC COVID Data As States Fail To Report Cases”. Fast. NPR. September, 2021. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/01/1032885251/millions-of-people-are-missing-from-cdc-covid-data-as-states-fail-to-report-case
“‘It is embarrassing’: CDC struggles to track Covid cases as Omicron looms”. Banco. Politico. December, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/20/cdc-covid-omicron-delta-tracking-525621