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Many of you know I keep close eyes on PA& #39;s publicly-available info about the dates COVID-19 deaths actually occurred, vs. the dates they are reported. I tweet this data daily. A note about today& #39;s update:
For nearly a month, I have studied these numbers. Every day, I have tweeted what I& #39;ve discovered. I have done this because I believe it is important for the public to understand just how long death reports are lagging.
Yesterday, the endpoint I& #39;ve been using to view the data was cut off, moved behind a login page. I asked @PAHealthDept about it. Maybe a blip? The dept publishes these numbers daily on their dashboard. They are not secret. They are not hidden. They are simply not accessible.
First, I was told they& #39;d look into it & that "anything on our website shouldn& #39;t be behind a login." Roger. Tech is hard. I get it. Again, these are numbers the department is publishing daily. Probably a simple mistake?
Next thing I know, I& #39;m told maybe I tried to access the page while it was being updated. Can I try again? OK, but no, that& #39;s not the issue. The issue is my access was cut.
Next, I& #39;m told this: "I& #39;m not sure how you had access to that, but there is no access to the back end of the dashboard. So, moving forward, I do not think you will have access."
I respond: "I am able to hover over the graph each day, to see the individual breakdowns. All the numbers are there. But I am no longer able to access a basic table of the numbers, the exact same ones being used to populate that public-facing graph. Is that correct?"
"That is correct," I am told.
It& #39;s been a hassle to build a workaround, but these are public-facing numbers and the public has a right to be able to actually read them. They& #39;re hard to get at. I can help. Anyway, here& #39;s today& #39;s update: https://twitter.com/sarambsimon/status/1283791610535436291?s=20">https://twitter.com/sarambsim...
