New York Times data not helpful in determining COVID impact

(Editor’s note: All numbers and rankings from The New York Times COVID data were taken from the charts at noon on Sept. 14.)

Several Kentucky media outlets are reporting stories of The News York Times COVID data stating eight Eastern Kentucky counties are in the top 20 counties for number of cases per 100,000 residents, but one local medical official says that comparison is not actually all that helpful in determining the impact of COVID.

Kentucky counties included in the top 20 counties in The News York Times county comparison chart (www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html) are: Perry, Rockcastle, Clay, Knox, Powell, Whitley, Monroe and Bell.

The rankings are based on the places with the most cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days.

The New York Times cited state and local health agencies as the sources used to compile the data.

While the numbers do indicate that those counties ranked highly on the chart in the singular category, the other categories show a different data.

In average daily cases, Tarrant, Texas takes the lead with the first Kentucky county to be listed being Jefferson County coming in at number 40 with 507 cases. Whitley County was ranked at number 13 in Kentucky with an average of 88 cases per day, but was not ranked in the top 100 nationally when compared to the other counties.

For the average hospitalized per 100,000, Pike County takes the top spot with 168 individuals hospitalized per 100,000 followed by Perry County at number three and Knott County at number five.

Whitley County was not ranked in the top 100 counties with 79 individuals per 100,000.

For the daily average deaths, Jefferson County came in number one in the state with an average of three deaths per day, but it ranked 76 in top 100 counties nationally.

For the average deaths per 100,000, Allen County takes the number four spot with 6.7 deaths per 100,000. Whitley County, which had 0.79 deaths per 100,000, is not ranked in the top 100 spots.

Whitley County’s vaccination rate was at 42 percent according to The New York Times data, and it was not ranked within the top 100 rates nationally.

“Look at your local, trusted data sources,” said Whitley County Health Department’s Public Health Director Marcy Rein. “You have a lot of options to look at the data at a local level and watch the trends and look at what is going on within the schools and the healthcare system and the places that are important to you in the community.”

Rein said that some media coverage is distracting individuals from tackling the real issues relating to the virus within the community.

“That [local data] is what you should be focused on and not be distracted by eye catching headlines from other places,” said Rein.

“Practically speaking, I don’t think it really does a whole lot to compare Whitley County to those places [New York City, New York, Chicago, Illinois, etc.]. We are very different in a lot of ways – economy, geography, just our populations,” said Rein. “We know that rural counties are hurting. We know that our rates are bad. I think that is where I recommend people focus on what is going on in your community – focus on what is happening in Whitley County, and to the places that you care about – that is really what is going to impact you.”

Rein emphasized that it is more useful to look internally at our community rather than looking externally in an attempt to compare Whitley County to other diverse places.

“That is more useful than trying to compare ourselves to places that are just generally very different, and it doesn’t help me as a health director to compare my numbers to New York City’s numbers or to Chicago’s numbers because that is neither here nor there. I am really worried about whether our children are getting to school safely, are our hospitals able to function, and are people able to get the care that they need.”

“I think this is just a really big headline. It’s embarrassing to have our community talked about in such negative ways,” said Rein. “I’d like people focus more locally on what is happening at Baptist Health Corbin Hospital, and that is really concerning. I think this is a distraction.”