BATTLING COVID-19. Medical workers take nasal swab samples for Covid-19 testing in Washington, DC on Jan. 13, 2022. A report said public health officials find the lack of accurate and real-time information as "one of the greatest failures” of the US’ response to the pandemic. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)
NEW YORK – Public health officials in the United States are frustrated by a fractured and undervalued health data infrastructure in the battle against the coronavirus disease 2019, calling the lack of accurate and real-time information as "one of the greatest failures of the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic," CNN reported.
As the Omicron wave recedes in the US, public health officials are faced with a new round of decision-making on the best way for the country to move forward, but they are challenged by "a fractured and undervalued health data infrastructure," the report said Thursday.
It is a problem that has long plagued the US and one that has hindered the ability to respond swiftly and pointedly to the Covid-19 pandemic since the beginning, it said.
"Our data modernization infrastructure for governmental public health is just really nonexistent. So, when you think about having to pivot quickly with new metrics and how that data gets collected and reported and accumulated, aggregated, de-aggregated, it can be daunting," Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of the National Association of County and City Health Officials was quoted by CNN as saying. "It's difficult not just during pandemic times, but even more difficult during the pandemic.”
The data failings of the US public health system are many and varied, tainting nearly every decision-driving metric in one way or another.
"Lack of accurate, real-time information was one of the greatest failures of the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic," said Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Xinhua)
