The number of COVID-related hospitalizations in Washington state has been increasing for nearly two months, with the number of people being hospitalized increasing 75 percent between the end of May and the end of July. Despite that worrying trend, the state continues to have major information gaps that make it difficult to implement a rational strategy.

First, there has been a positive trend in testing, with daily tests increasing from about 5,000 in early June to 20,000 in mid-July. Since then, however, the testing numbers have declined, and the state has not published any testing data since the end of July. The governor’s COVID dashboard reports, “No new negative test data have been available since 8/1. Our team is working hard to address this issue and we will post new information as soon as it is available.” The state’s test monitoring should be improving as time goes on. It is not. The governor should provide an explanation as to why this is happening, and what is being done currently to expedite the availability of information.

Second, after two months, the governor’s COVID dashboard still has no data or metrics for two of the six categories. The page simply says the metrics for “Populations at Higher Risk” and “Case Investigations and Contact Tracing” are “coming soon.” The state believes these are important enough to track, but not important enough to actually implement them.

The “Case Investigations” category says it will measure the “percent of cases reached within 24 hours of positive lab test report.” This communication can help prevent the spread by identifying those who could have been exposed to COVID and having them get tested. There is controversy around mandatory quarantine and other aspects of contact tracing, but simply informing others who might have been exposed is simple and responsible.

The fact that we still don’t have an implementable plan or metric for “Populations at Higher Risk” is remarkable. One of the things we know about COVID is that some groups are particularly susceptible, either to contracting the disease or being seriously harmed by it. These groups should be the focus of our efforts. Instead, it has been 163 days since the first case of COVID in Washington state, and the governor’s dashboard still does not have a metric or strategy for addressing these groups.

The governor’s office and the Department of Health will respond that they are working with these populations to limit spread and address COVID. That may be true, but the purpose of metrics is to determine the effectiveness of those efforts. With COVID hospitalizations increasing, information is critical to see what isn’t working. If the metric isn’t useful, why have it on the governor’s dashboard?

There is a great deal of finger pointing at the federal government regarding the failure to effectively control COVID – a failure that has necessitated costly restrictions on the economy and schools. At a time when the number of people impacted by COVID is increasing, schools are getting ready to reopen, and businesses are tottering on the edge of bankruptcy, it is inexcusable that the state cannot even provide basic information necessary to help fight the pandemic.