I am shifting into my Blogger / Opinion mode this morning for this article.
I have been one of the many people tracking the COVID-19 data here in Maryland, Howard County and Carroll County since the early days of this pandemic. I consider myself a bit of a “data nerd” and felt that tracking the data would help me (and hopefully my readers) understand what is happening throughout this pandemic at the state and local level.
I have seen the major tracking points of data change over time from number of cases, to number of tests conducted, to number of hospitalizations, to number of deaths, to the positivity rate, to the number of vaccinations. Not that any one data set has been more important that the other but the focus has shifted at different times throughout the pandemic.
To date the reporting style has been a blanket style of data reporting of everyone that has been affected by the pandemic…and I am now looking for a new focus from the state and local areas I write about to…
Number of new cases (and other data) of vaccinated individuals vs unvaccinated individuals.
We are being told time and time again for a little while now that “a majority of new cases are among unvaccinated persons” yet not really provided that information from our leaders or Health Departments. It is not that I do not believe them…I just want the data that shows proof of this statement.
The state has recently started reporting this type information on a weekly basis on their COVID-19 dashboard (Maryland reports more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases of fully vaccinated individuals between August 15th and August 22nd) but I would like to see this data at the local level as well (and reported daily instead of weekly and additional details about this data).
I would like to see not only new cases but also hospitalizations and deaths of COVID-19 vaccinated vs unvaccinated individuals (and any other data being collected) at all levels and on a regular basis.
And a final point I would like additional details on…how accurate is the data being reported today? We know the state does not have easy access to the federal data of vaccinated individuals (those vaccinated at the FEMA-run vaccination centers, or at a VA clinic…we saw that during the Maryland COVID-19 lottery process) so is the data reported of new cases of vaccinated vs unvaccinated today even accurate or is it under reported?
I am happy to have a conversation with the Department of Health at the State, in Carroll County or Howard County on these items…if any entity is interested in sharing this information with the public. I will tag these entities on social media and see if that helps me get additional details for my readers.
In the mean time…I will continue to track the data reported by the state weekly and report that information here on the blog.
Scott E
Agreed. I would also like to see it broken out by vaccine manufacturer, so I can understand how my vaccine may or may not be protecting me.
That is a great point and I totally agree…I would love to see data as well.
Totally agreed with your comments and initiatives!