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So for weeks now, I and others in the Montana press corps have been pushing @GovernorBullock’s administration for detailed information on how many Montanans have been tested for #covid19 in different parts of the state. 1/x
The state has of course released aggregate testing numbers and county-level figures for confirmed cases (i.e. positive tests) on their situational dashboard, updated daily: https://montana.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=7c34f3412536439491adcc2103421d4b 2/x
BUT that testing figure is currently only tests conducted at the state lab, when we know some hospitals are shipping to private labs. And there’s no info there about WHERE in Montana the testing has been conducted. 3/x
Of course, the outlook for a rural Montana county without confirmed #covid19 cases looks quite different if it’s reporting no positives after having hundreds of residents tested, vs no positives after a mere handful of tests — or none at all. 4/x
At one particular press conference in early April, a bunch of us #mtmedia reporters asked the governor variations on a key testing question: Without county-level numbers, how do we know that there’s enough testing being done? 5/x
Afterwards, we were comparing notes and wondered if we could track down that information by contacting local health authorities in all 56 counties. So between five of us — me, @K_Hought, @hollykmichels, @clccarney & @nickyodoesradio — that’s what we did. 6/x
Here’s the print version of what we found, publishing in our respective outlets today.
In brief — even at the local level, info on how many #covid19 tests have been conducted is spotty at best: https://montanafreepress.org/2020/04/24/https-montanafreepress-org-2020-04-23-as-montana-prepares-to-reopen-state-lacks-local-covid-19-testing-data/ 7/x
In brief — even at the local level, info on how many #covid19 tests have been conducted is spotty at best: https://montanafreepress.org/2020/04/24/https-montanafreepress-org-2020-04-23-as-montana-prepares-to-reopen-state-lacks-local-covid-19-testing-data/ 7/x
Essentially, the state doesn’t have an effective system for keeping track of where COVID-19 tests have been done unless they come back positive, in which case they scramble the contact tracing efforts we’ve heard a lot about.
Negative tests though? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 8/x
Negative tests though? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 8/x
Because compiling data (or lack thereof) from 56 counties and distilling it to a story was a royal pain, our figures are already a couple of weeks old. But we did identify a few counties that may not have actually had ANY of their residents tested as of April 8. 9/x
A big caveat on that last point: Many local health officials said they aren’t necessarily informed if one of their residents received a covid test in another county — and b/c Billings and Great Falls are health care hubs in their respective regions, that’s likely happening. 10/x
So really, we just don’t know how thorough #covid19 testing has been at a local level in Montana.
The governor has cited state-level per-capita stats, which do look OK. But our reporting indicates things haven’t been spread evenly, which leaves the essential Q unanswered. 11/11
The governor has cited state-level per-capita stats, which do look OK. But our reporting indicates things haven’t been spread evenly, which leaves the essential Q unanswered. 11/11
