Lincoln, Berlin – Arizona governor Doug Ducey has cut off his universities' access to state coronavirus data because he doesn't like their pandemic projections and modeling, according to Inside Higher Ed:
"On Monday, the state's bureau chief of public health statistics, S. Robert Bailey, wrote to a modeling team of professors from ASU and the University of Arizona and asked them to pause all work on pandemic projections and modeling. The state also ended the researchers' access to special data sets.
"Bailey's request came shortly after Doug Ducey, Arizona's ...governor, announced plans to begin lifting social distancing restrictions in coming days. Reopening at the end of May was the only scenario that would not result in a large increase in COVID-19 cases, the model from the two universities had found."
Nebraska Governor Ricketts has likewise acted to suppress the release of information from county public health agencies. Both of these governors seem to think that it is necessary to keep the truth from the public.
Governor Ricketts also made this statement about the spread of Covid-19 in a television town hall meeting this week. He said he was trying to flatten the curve to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed:
"You can't change the area under the curve, you can't change the number of people getting infected because nobody's got any immunity."
Can't can't can't. Don't tell that to the leaders of New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea, and Germany, who have indeed changed the number of people getting infected by early and decisive orders to keep people at home rather than spreading the disease. Don't tell that to the governors of Washington State, California, and elsewhere who have also done just that. They have not only flattened their curves, which Governor Ricketts has not done (cases are rising rapidly in Nebraska), they have absolutely reduced the number of cases. The Ricketts statement is demonstrably false.
In Germany, which is re-opening its economy properly, a setback in the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen has been met with quick response to isolate the outbreak and prevent it from spreading. Germany, and most other places with any common sense, does not wait two or three weeks for hospital beds to fill up and then try to suppress the bad news.
Advice to governors: tell the truth; don't suppress information; open economies using the CDC guidelines; watch leading indicators such as R (the virus reproduction rate), not trailing indicators like hospital beds; use your powers to crack down on hot spots immediately, even as you open. You can do both at the same time.*
Advice to universities: don't knuckle under to governors who dissemble and suppress. (ASU, which refused to stop modeling: well done.) Don't be used as a prop to lend your authority to what you know is not true and leads to more cases and deaths. (UNMC, which appeared with Ricketts at the televised town hall: not well done.**)
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* For mayors with home rule charters: prepare your departments to act to control hot spots if your governor won't. Lincoln mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird is re-opening the city on May 11 in accordance with the governor's instructions, over her objections, "rather than create confusion or engage in a legal battle." The Mayor expressed concern that Lincoln's cases and positivity rate have not been decreasing. If the situation worsens, the mayor, after consulting with the local medical community, should implement tougher, local measures to reduce cases immediately, regardless of the governor's failure to do so. Lincoln must not become a Grand Island.
** Post script, 5/10: UNMC Dr. Mark Rupp, in full damage-control mode, tells the Lincoln Journal Star that Nebraskans should listen to doctors and scientists for advice, not politicians. My advice to him and to all at UNMC, is to stay away from Governor Ricketts not only literally six feet, but figuratively and policy-wise as far as possible. Thank you, JoAnne Young, for your potentially life-saving article.
Governor Ricketts also made this statement about the spread of Covid-19 in a television town hall meeting this week. He said he was trying to flatten the curve to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed:
"You can't change the area under the curve, you can't change the number of people getting infected because nobody's got any immunity."
Can't can't can't. Don't tell that to the leaders of New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea, and Germany, who have indeed changed the number of people getting infected by early and decisive orders to keep people at home rather than spreading the disease. Don't tell that to the governors of Washington State, California, and elsewhere who have also done just that. They have not only flattened their curves, which Governor Ricketts has not done (cases are rising rapidly in Nebraska), they have absolutely reduced the number of cases. The Ricketts statement is demonstrably false.
In Germany, which is re-opening its economy properly, a setback in the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen has been met with quick response to isolate the outbreak and prevent it from spreading. Germany, and most other places with any common sense, does not wait two or three weeks for hospital beds to fill up and then try to suppress the bad news.
Advice to governors: tell the truth; don't suppress information; open economies using the CDC guidelines; watch leading indicators such as R (the virus reproduction rate), not trailing indicators like hospital beds; use your powers to crack down on hot spots immediately, even as you open. You can do both at the same time.*
Advice to universities: don't knuckle under to governors who dissemble and suppress. (ASU, which refused to stop modeling: well done.) Don't be used as a prop to lend your authority to what you know is not true and leads to more cases and deaths. (UNMC, which appeared with Ricketts at the televised town hall: not well done.**)
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* For mayors with home rule charters: prepare your departments to act to control hot spots if your governor won't. Lincoln mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird is re-opening the city on May 11 in accordance with the governor's instructions, over her objections, "rather than create confusion or engage in a legal battle." The Mayor expressed concern that Lincoln's cases and positivity rate have not been decreasing. If the situation worsens, the mayor, after consulting with the local medical community, should implement tougher, local measures to reduce cases immediately, regardless of the governor's failure to do so. Lincoln must not become a Grand Island.
** Post script, 5/10: UNMC Dr. Mark Rupp, in full damage-control mode, tells the Lincoln Journal Star that Nebraskans should listen to doctors and scientists for advice, not politicians. My advice to him and to all at UNMC, is to stay away from Governor Ricketts not only literally six feet, but figuratively and policy-wise as far as possible. Thank you, JoAnne Young, for your potentially life-saving article.
