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 Wyoming’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
Some issues exist:
- 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
- data for multiple key metrics is hard to discover or access
- does not provide latest tests and cases data in machine readable format
- does not provide historical tests and cases data in machine readable format
Race and Ethnicity
Serious issues exist:
- does not report race / ethnicity data for tests and hospitalizations
- reports race data for 63% of cases and 98% of deaths
- Wyoming is double counting people, including someone in every demographic category they select. This makes comparisons to the state population impossible. People who select more than one category should be included in a 'Multiracial' category.
Long-Term Care
Some issues exist:
- does not provice facilities data in a downloadable or machine readable form
- does not provide either staff or resident cumulative cases state-wide
- does not provide either staff or resident cumulative deaths state-wide
- does not provide either staff or resident cases for the current outbreaks state-wide
- does not provide a count of total number of facilities impacted
- provides the following metrics only via email outreach: Facility Name, Facility Type, Facility Location, Lists as open or closed/provides date of last case per facility, Staff Cumulative Cases per facility, Res Cumulative Cases per facility, Staff Cumulative Deaths per facility, Res Cumulative Deaths per facility, Staff Outbreak Cases per facility, Res Outbreak Cases per facility, Staff Outbreak Deaths per facility, Res Outbreak Deaths per facility