The virus has no national boundaries. If a country does not control it, all countries will not be safe. The United States, which has the most advanced medical treatment, has the situation of incomplete epidemic data, which is worrying.


As the coronavirus continues to tear through the U.S. with more than 1,000 coronavirus-related deaths reported on Tuesday alone, most states are falling short in reporting critical information needed to track and curb the spread of COVID-19, according to an analysis released Tuesday.

The report released by Resolve to Save Lives, a nonprofit led by former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Tom Frieden and part of the global health organization Vital Strategies, claims to be the first comprehensive review of COVID-19 data in all 50 states.

The analysis argues that incomplete and inconsistent COVID-19 data from states, along with the absence of national leadership, is behind the U.S.'s poor response to the pandemic.

The report claims that across the U.S., only 40 percent of essential data points are being monitored and reported publicly, while more than half of essential information is not reported at all.

According to the report, not a single state reported turnaround time for testing, how quickly patients are isolated, or the proportion of cases diagnosed among individuals who were exposed to a COVID-19 patient. Only two states publish data on how quickly contact tracers are able to interview people testing positive to learn about their potential contacts. The report’s authors say these indicators are essential to track and respond to the virus.

“States around the country have done good work. They’ve been doing the challenging, hard, meticulous job of collecting, analyzing and presenting crucial information,” Frieden said during a news briefing Tuesday.

“But because of the lack of national leadership, we don’t have common standards, definitions, targets or accountability,” he said.

Frieden said as a result the U.S is “flying blind” in its effort to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Resolve to Save Lives, along with the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, are recommending states and counties report 15 indicators they say are essential for an effective response to the outbreak.

The indicators include more data on confirmed and probable cases, percentage of new cases linked to known cases, testing and contact tracing performance indicators and others. Every state and county should be able to collect and publish nine of the indicators immediately and the others within a few weeks, according to the report.

The CDC says it is already tracking, or has plans to track, 14 of the 15 indicators recommended, according to The Washington Post.

“CDC is always looking at best practices for ways to enhance, consolidate and report data, to make it easier for states and the public to access,” the CDC said in a statement to the Post.

Meanwhile, Michael R. Caputo, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), pushed back against the report’s criticism of the U.S. response.

“While Frieden scrambles for relevance, the team at CDC under Dr. [Robert] Redfield’s leadership has already accomplished the very things Frieden calls for. We’re providing open and transparent data to scientists, researchers, and the public on a level Frieden never accomplished gathering data by fax,” Caputo said according to The Washington Post.

The U.S. continues to lead the world in the number of coronavirus cases and deaths, with more than 3.9 million cases and more than 142,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.