California keeps COVID-19 data secret Print this article
California is keeping certain COVID-19 statistics a secret from its citizens over concerns that the data may be confusing or even misleading to the public.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, after changing reopening requirements for the state, refuses to make it clear how the new system works. At the moment the projections are not being shared publicly, California Department of Public Health spokeswoman Ali Bay said in an email.
Around Thanksgiving, Newsom announced that rather than taking a county-by-county approach, as it had been prior, the state would now be divided into five regions for purposes of measuring the area s readiness for relaxed coronavirus restrictions. Regions with less than 15% intensive care unit capacity would be told to shut down much of their activity.
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Don Thompson
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) California Gov. Gavin Newsom has from the start said his coronavirus policy decisions would be driven by data shared with the public to provide maximum transparency. But with the state starting to emerge from its worst surge, his administration won t disclose key information that will help determine when his latest stay-at-home order is lifted.
State officials said they rely on a very complex set of measurements that would confuse and potentially mislead the public if they were released.
After Newsom imposed the nation s first statewide shutdown in March, his administration developed plans for reopening that included benchmarks for virus data points such as per capita infection rates that counties needed to meet to relax restrictions. It released data models state officials used to project whether infections, hospitalizations and deaths are likely to rise or fall.