5 Major Coronavirus Developments - More Data Problems in RI
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
The Raimondo administration’s data collection and reporting is facing another significant challenge. For two weeks, the state has been unable to report city and town numbers creating a void in information about the spread of the disease.
Over the weekend, Rhode Island reported over 900 new cases and an increase of the positivity rate to 4.7%.
Schools and businesses depend on the data, but the Rhode Island Department of Health says updated numbers won't be available until the end of this week - nearly 3 weeks since the last update and during a major outbreak.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“We’re hoping to have the updated numbers up later this week. We’re doing some data cleaning,” says Joseph Wendelken, spokesperson for the RIDOH.
RIDOH has not updated city and town numbers since October 10, all while Rhode Island’s overall numbers are hitting record highs.
Breakouts Hitting Communities -- With No Local Data
Over the weekend another Rhode Island school was shut down to in-school learning. Governor Aram J. Pothier Elementary School and Citizens Memorial Elementary School in Woonsocket closed in-classroom learning and was forced to full distance learning this week after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.
Last week, GoLocal reported Stadium Elementary in Cranston was shutdown. Two weeks before a Pawtucket school was shut down.
Without data, city and town leaders cannot track outbreaks and in some cases, data is being lumped together by the state. In Central Falls, the outbreak at the Wyatt Detention Center is being lumped into the Central Falls data.
Other Data Issues
As GoLocal reported, Rhode Island’s testing reporting is lumping symptomatic with both asymptomatic testing going on at the colleges and universities and the general population.
Approximately half of the daily testing results are now asymptomatic testing which have very little disease infection.
The lack of being able to track real-time whether a test is asymptotic or symptomatic is a significant data error according to former Rhode Island Health Director Dr. Michael Fine, who helped both Central Falls and Pawtucket create their reporting systems and both can real-time track the different tests.
According to Wendelken, the state can only separate the asymptotic test results from symptomatic after the tests have been conducted and through staff work. “We get the information through case investigations (interviews),” he told GoLocal.
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