It is important to know that you are not alone. For months, I have watched as public health information was stripped from the Collin County COVID-19 dashboard. It now consists of little more than the number of hospitalizations … which, of course, have grown tremendously in the months since this became the last bit of data they provided. Watching people in my neighborhood disregard basic notions of keeping one’s distance and masking up when around other people, I’ve lost any hope that people in this county care at all about the disease burning through its population.
Today I learned I am far from alone in this concern. The Dallas Morning News wrote a whole story [1] devoted to the anomaly that is Collin County in the North Texas region. To wit:
With more than 1 million residents, Collin County is the most populous county in Texas to rely entirely on the state to manage its COVID-19 case data.
Weber, Jared. “Collin County’s data woes concern residents amid coronavirus spike.” The Dallas Morning News. Dec. 20, 2020.
The article delves into the politics behind the de-funding and removal of data from the county’s COVID-19 public health information effort. Information is critical to the essential functioning of any democracy. Hiding or eliminating data is a classic sign of an effort to undermine the population’s ability to engage in robust decision making, especially about the judgement of those elected to make decisions on our behalf. I was particularly horrified by this gem:
But some Collin County elected officials — such as Commissioner Darrell Hale, who voted in favor of removing data from the county’s dashboard — say investing in robust case management isn’t worth the money.
“People are going to do what they want to do,” Hale said. “We all know that it’s dangerous to speed and go and drive fast, but people still do it all the time. People make dangerous decisions every day. And I don’t know how much more data we can put out there that tells people that COVID is bad.”
Weber, Jared. “Collin County’s data woes concern residents amid coronavirus spike.” The Dallas Morning News. Dec. 20, 2020.
I guess Hale is against having laws to regulate driving, or at least against enforcing such laws. I say he can go to Hale.
