Letter to the editor: How are we interpreting covid-19 data?

It is outrageous that the Pennsylvania Department of Health won’t share “granular” data with others. Is it because someone might come to a different conclusion on the interpretation of the data?

The daily number of cases reported to the health department should not be the headline. What is needed is an estimated infection date for each case and those results graphed by date. The variables of the amount of time between exposure and when a patient first had symptoms, went for a test, how long the results took, and how long the lab took to report to the health department — all are different for each case.

The number of cases reported today could be from transmission in May or from two weeks ago. Nobody knows without having the data analyzed in a more investigative fashion. Perhaps we need a task force of mathematics and medical personnel from outside the health department to analyze the data.

The virus is going to be with us until a vaccine is available, and shutting down select businesses is not an equitable or effective measure to reduce the spread. All businesses should be open and let the free market determine where people choose to spend their time.

Paul I. Nichols Jr.

Harrison