The city of Frisco, Texas, removed the COVID-19 data-tracking dashboard from its website after public officials questioned its data reliability, according to local newspaper Community Impact.
Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney said the cumulative dashboard is "doing more harm than good" for the city, and the Frisco City Council instructed staff to remove the dashboard on Sept. 1, according to the paper. Frisco also halted cumulative weekly COVID-19 reports that it sent over email, according to the report. The city saw an artificial increase in its number of coronavirus cases after a backlog of coronavirus test results from several commercial labs were added all at once, the newspaper reported.
The state added the backlogged cases to its electronic reporting system and notified counties of outdated positive COVID-19 test results, the report said. The Texas health department is working with the labs to ensure timely reporting to the state and patients,but in the meantime, Mr. Cheney told the newspaper he backs the city's decision to remove the dashboard.
"We're putting out information that we know is bad, and that is actually creating public perceptions of the situation that aren't actually accurate," he said.
The city uses local hospital data instead of the state data published on the dashboard when making policy decisions.
More articles on data analytics:
WSJ: Feds may post names of hospitals with missing COVID-19 data
'This much unusable and stale data is irresponsible': Florida drops Quest after backlog of 75K COVID-19 test results
What White House's COVID-19 task force data reports reveal: 4 insights