The firing of a Florida official who says she refused to change data on coronavirus cases has raised questions about the accuracy of the stats being used to reopen states.
WHY IS IT REPUBLICANS ARE THE GANG THAT CAN’T SHOOT STRAIGHT?
Kemp had previously drawn ridicule for saying in early April that he didn’t realize that asymptomatic carriers were capable of infecting others, a fact that had been widely known for several weeks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has its headquarters in Atlanta, which is also Georgia’s state capital.
Kemp has cited projections from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) during press conferences, but the IHME’s Ali Mokdad, a former CDC official, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the state wasn’t actually using its data for guidance.
“They’re not using our data to open,” Mokdad said. “They’re relaxing measures earlier than we say it’s safe.”
On Monday, the Georgia Department of Public Health admitted another error, tweeting that it had accidentally included the results of serological antibody testing — which detects evidence of a previous infection — along with the number of those who actively have the virus.
A similar issue is clouding the data in Texas, another state w
