There’s a lot you can learn about coronavirus in other states that you can’t in North Carolina

At least once each day, North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services updates its data on coronavirus cases in our state. To get those DHHS numbers, simply go to the department’s coronavirus page, where you can find the current official NC case count, number of COVID-19 deaths, and the number of completed public and commercial tests. You also can find the number of cases and deaths in each county on a map below.

It’s helpful information, and DHHS has served North Carolina well with the availability of secretary Mandy Cohen, who has directly and thoughtfully answered questions in news conferences during the crisis. But residents of other states are getting information about the coronavirus that North Carolinians aren’t.

In neighboring Virginia, the Department of Public Health has provided a online demographic breakdown of the virus, including hospitalizations, with positive cases sorted by age groups, gender and race. On Friday, NCDHHS began adding demographic information about age and gender, but not race.

In Florida, the department of health goes even further, providing an elaborate county-by-county dashboard that includes hospitalization data. Florida also provides a detailed daily summary of persons being monitored and persons under investigation.

Several other states provide residents with similar details, but the model for state-level COVID-19 data might be Oklahoma. There, health officials have provided an additional update that includes data on available ventilators and hospital occupancy, as well as the number of available beds in ICUs, operating rooms and pediatric units.

North Carolina has access to at least some of this data. Last week, the News & Observer asked DHHS for demographic information — age or age range, gender, race and zip code — of COVID-19 patients across North Carolina. Other than age and gender numbers released for the first time on Friday, DHHS has not responded.

Why is such information important? It can help improve understanding of the virus and its spread among North Carolinians, and it can accentuate issues and dispel myths that contribute to that spread. For example, Mecklenburg County released demographic information earlier this month that showed nearly 50% of cases were in people under the age of 40 - a number that might have surprised younger people who thought they were less vulnerable. Similarly, the statewide numbers released Friday showed that people under 50 make up 61 percent of positive tests.

Does the data give us a full picture of COVID-19? No, and as N.C. epidemiologist John Wallace cautions, demographic data is a snapshot that only reflects known cases. They don’t say where infected individuals may have gone and how they became infected. “They shouldn’t be used to determine who is at risk and where,” Wallace told the News & Observer.

Still, such information provides a more detailed landscape of the coronavirus and, in turn, why doubters should take it more seriously. Detailed numbers might also prompt questions or reveal information about patterns and needs, and while officials say they don’t want to release information that might reveal the identity of an individual with coronavirus, that’s a bit of a red herring. State-level data - or even county-level demographics - do not bring risk to individual privacy.

To be clear, we appreciate the critical information DHHS provides, as well as the transparency officials have shown in public briefings. We don’t believe officials are trying to hide data from the public. But as other states and counties have demonstrated, such information is available. It’s useful and potentially valuable. North Carolina should provide it to people who want to better understand the crisis around them.

This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 11:38 AM.