New Guide for Understanding COVID Data

Officials looking for COVID-19 statistics to help make public health decisions — such as when to open or close schools, businesses, and community facilities — have plenty data to choose from, including confirmed cases, deaths, hospitalizations, intensive care unit occupancy, emergency room visits, antibody tests, nasal-swab tests, the ratio of positive test results, and more. But interpreting those data can be challenging.

"...there is...a lot that officials can do with the statistics and data sources that hospitals and agencies are providing right now — provided that officials can be made aware of the strengths and weaknesses of each piece of data,” says...