When it comes to publicly sharing local data regarding COVID-19 cases, the state Department of Public Health took a big step toward greater transparency this week.
Up until Wednesday, the DPH only reported positive case counts and deaths by county. By that criteria, of Massachusetts’ 14 counties, Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties have the lowest number of confirmed case (excluding the off-shore counties of Dukes and Nantucket). As of Friday, Berkshire County had 383 confirmed cases, Hampshire County had 258 and Franklin County had 173. By contrast, neighboring Hampden County had 2,134.
Which begs the question: Should we feel safer in three of the four western counties than in other parts of the state? The answer is no. That’s because some of our smaller communities have a higher rate of cases per capita than more populous communities in other parts of the state.
By releasing town-by-town data of confirmed COVID-19 cases — with the exception being municipalities with populations under 50,000, like Hatfield and Westhampton, that had fewer than five cases, in order to safeguard confidentiality — the state is providing greater clarity for all communities. The information also provides a greater uniformity of reporting. These are good things.
Prior to Wednesday’s reporting change, Hampshire County communities took widely different stances on releasing the number of confirmed cases within their borders, with some, like South Hadley and Amherst, posting daily updates and others, like Northampton and Easthampton, citing privacy issues and other concerns as reasons not to provide numbers. Still other towns wavered between the two policies.
At first, Amherst opted not to release individual case numbers, but reversed course when other communities started doing so. Town Manager Paul Bockelman said it made him worry. “People might start to question, why are you not releasing the numbers? … If it would quash a little bit of any of the sort of skepticism, we thought it would be a benefit,” he told the Gazette.
We agree. The state’s advice to communities on the matter didn’t lend itself to transparency. Most of the communities not sharing data cited DPH guidance as the reason for doing so, though the state actually left the decision up to individual communities, advising that, “If you choose to share numbers of cases or deaths for these purposes, please do so with the highest regard for privacy and confidentiality by not including any information other than the case count.”
We never agreed with the rationales for keeping the information from the public. Nobody was asking for identifiable data, just the number of cases and deaths. We’re glad the state has changed course and started publishing the data on its own.
People have a right to know if the virus is spreading through their communities so they can make decisions about keeping themselves and their families safe. One way to do that is by knowing how many cases of the virus are in their cities and towns. No one is arguing that people should stop social distancing or taking other measures to curb COVID-19’s spread.
It’s also about trust in government. By showing the pace of new cases, people can better understand why cities and towns are taking the actions they are taking. Doing so in the absence of any data can leave people without a sense of the gravity and urgency of the crisis.
Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said it best this week in announcing the reporting change: “Having the ability to look at this virus through the lens of its impact on specific cities and towns will help us identify potential hotspots, inform the public health response, assist cities and towns working to slow the spread and help the state appropriately deploy resources.”
To that end, the latest chart for cities and towns released Wednesday shows Northampton with 59 cases, yielding a rate of about 202 per 100,000 residents; South Hadley with 38 cases, with a rate of 210 per 100,000; Easthampton with 26 (160 per 100,000); Belchertown with 25 (157); Southampton with 19 (316); Hadley with 15 (260); Granby with 12 (195); and Amherst with 11 (27). Seven other communities have fewer than five cases, with two of those at zero. Holyoke, meanwhile, has 305 cases, or 740 per 100,000.