Combatting the Rise in Data Politics
Written by Rebecca Gorin, SDSN TReNDS’ Intern
Source: Unsplash
Data plays a critical role in how we understand the Covid-19 epidemic and determining how policies are shaped. Everything from the allocation of personal protective equipment and drug treatments to reopening plans is guided in part by available data, and because these decisions can often make the difference between life and death, the data must be reliable and transparent. However, in recent months, several cases have demonstrated the dangers of politicizing data as well as the dearth of systems in place in both high and low-income countries to maintain data accountability and transparency.
For instance, in May, a Florida health department manager, Rebekah Jones, was let go after objecting to manipulate the data to obscure the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Florida, even though she managed what was seen as “the best official source for in-depth data on how the deadly pandemic [was] moving through the state.” Upon her departure, she warned that the dashboard was in danger of not being held to the same independent standards. A month later, Jones launched her own dashboard, which showed higher case numbers than reported by the Florida Department of Health (DOH) because it included data on those with positive antibody results, whereas the DOH only published total cases.
In early June, a similar case happened in Brazil. Amid criticism of President Jair Bolsonaro’s response to the pandemic, Brazil’s government removed months of Covid-19 data from its health ministry’s website and stopped reporting total figures and data over time, instead only reporting cases, deaths, and recoveries for the previous 24 hours. In response, a consortium of journalists from Brazilian media outlets came together to establish an alternate system of Covid-19 tracking in Brazil using state-level data, which, unlike the official data, was timely enough to be released to the public for nightly news broadcasts. Fortunately, after a Supreme Court ruling on June 9th, the government resumed publishing Covid-19 data, but the resulting confusion has led to serious public distrust of the government’s data sources.
In July, the Trump administration followed suit and announced that data tracking for Covid-19 was being moved from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Palantir, which has had a string of concerning data privacy issues, was involved in the construction of the new platform at the HHS. This shift has already led to gaps in timely data for some states, impeding their ability to track and respond to the virus. While Trump officials claim that this will help to streamline data gathering and resource allocation, the move raises significant concerns about data security, access, and protection, and is a clear example of politicizing the data to “hide” the administration’s poor response to the pandemic.
Having the right data governance and processes in place would have helped preclude (or at least mitigated the effects of) the above situations. These frameworks are essential not only for safeguarding users’ individual privacy and security, but also imperative for effective and efficient policymaking and keeping the public informed of crucial information.
Fortunately, in the absence of established data protection and accountability processes, citizens and the media can play an important role in holding governments accountable and demanding more reliable and accurate data. As demonstrated, in Brazil, journalists stepped in to fill a data gap and generated increased public pressure, which ultimately forced the government to reverse their actions. And in Florida, citizens like Rebekah Jones have helped to expose inconsistencies in government data to help foster greater data transparency and keep the public accurately informed.
From the public and journalists to researchers and policymakers - no matter the audience - data must be free from politicization. Empowerment of citizens and the media to combat this politicization and the establishment of more accountable and transparent data systems is critical to beating this pandemic.