For months, we have been collecting COVID-19 data, scrutinizing publicly available data definitions, and engaging in frequent conversations with jurisdictions to understand the data they share.
During this process, we have focused on three aspects of COVID-19 data reporting: 1) how the state defines and reports key metrics, such as testing data, cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, 2) how the state presents information about COVID-19 in long-term-care facilities, and 3) how the state reports race and ethnicity data.
Our assessment below reflects both the thoroughness of Nebraska’s reporting and the completeness and clarity of their data descriptions. We hope this work will not only help our data users to better grasp the limitations of these numbers but also might help health officials to understand the differences in data reporting across jurisdictions.
We require data definitions to be accessible from a state’s data pages and presented in a location where it is clear they will be maintained. Examples include data definition documents, data FAQs, dashboard footnotes, or definitions appearing daily in press releases.
Last updated March 2, 2021
State-level metrics
Serious issues exist:
- does not have a clear full definition of cases
- does not provide a breakdown of confirmed and probable cases
- does not publish what test types are included in their main testing metric
- does not provide a testing metric clearly including only viral RNA tests
- does not regularly provide antigen total test counts
- does not regularly provide antigen positive test counts
- does not provide numbers for patients currently on ventilators with COVID-19
- does not provide numbers for patients currently in the ICU with COVID-19
Race and Ethnicity
Some issues exist:
- does not report race / ethnicity data for tests
- reports race data for 59% of cases and 72% of deaths, and ethnicity data for 52% of cases and 60% of deaths
Long-Term Care
Serious issues exist:
- does not provide per-facility data
- provides the following metrics only via email outreach: Staff Cumulative Cases statewide, Res Cumulative Cases statewide, Combined Staff Res Cumulative Deaths statewide, Staff Cumulative Deaths statewide, Res Cumulative Deaths statewide, Staff Outbreak Cases statewide, Res Outbreak Cases statewide, Combined Staff Res Current Outbreak Deaths statewide, Staff Outbreak Deaths statewide, Res Outbreak Deaths statewide, Total Number of Facilities