Just over four weeks ago, Mike Ricci, Gov. Larry Hogan’s communications director, provided the following response when I asked, “Could you tell me if anyone is working to improve the reporting of COVID-19 stats for nursing facilities? No indication [is provided on the state website] as to when [data was] posted, updated, or [the weekly] rates of change. Thank you.”
“We are always working on ways to improve the reporting process," he posted on Twitter.
Having read Scott Dance and Kalani Gordon’s recent article “Maryland significantly underreports total coronavirus cases and deaths at nursing homes” (June 10), I now ask Mr. Ricci to provide us with receipts to show us the improvements the Hogan administration has implemented over the past four weeks that have enhanced the online reporting of COVID-19 cases and deaths in our congregate facilities. I honestly do not see evidence of any improvements on the state’s website, Maryland COVID-19 in Congregate Facility Settings.
When I viewed statistics for some of the facilities the other day, I continued to see what are, essentially, “raw numbers,” presented within the same format and context that were in place four weeks ago: The number of staff and resident cases and deaths are provided, but with no point of context, such as when the data was updated. There is no visible change in presentation that would indicate any improvements have been made to the online presentation of this data.
We are experiencing a public health crisis; the context in which data is presented is of paramount importance to the decision-making of families, public health officials, legislators and executives at all levels of our state government. Most importantly, the residents and staff at these facilities deserve to have their reality clearly communicated to those of us on the outside who are called to advocate for their well-being.
I commend The Baltimore Sun staff for their investigative reporting and most especially, for the time invested in building a database to monitor the state’s reporting of COVID-19 cases and deaths in these congregate facilities.
I implore the Hogan administration to provide us with details explaining what they are doing to improve the data presentation on their website and to implement visible improvements as soon as possible.
Carla Johnson, Baltimore
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