The US still isn't getting Covid-19 data right

As the Omicron wave recedes, public health officials are faced with a new round of decision-making on the best way for the country to move forward. But the United States' fractured, undervalued health data infrastructure makes it hard to gain trust.

It's a critical moment to rebuild the trust that has been lost among weary Americans over the past two years, said Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

But the best way to gain that trust -- offering a transparent, metric-based approach -- is challenged by a fractured and undervalued health data infrastructure. It's problem that has long plagued the United States and one that has hindered the ability to respond swiftly and pointedly to the Covid-19 pandemic since the beginning.