Health Affairs July 15, 2021
As the US COVID-19 pandemic abates to an endemic problem with tolerable caseloads, the nation’s after-action analyses will begin in earnest. We have been in a position to observe and assist with the pandemic response just about everywhere—inside and outside of government, at every hierarchical level and geography. What we have found is one universal challenge: A key obstacle faced by public health leaders, health system leaders, political leaders, and even the public has been getting access to meaningful data in a timely manner and aggregated at the geographic level that is of interest to them. For example, data similar to what are currently being collected by Johns Hopkins were not available prior to the pandemic. It was assembled in...