Thread by @carriecbishop

So I finally heard back from @ugahealthcenter about why #UGA’s posted COVID data doesn’t include the TOTAL number of COVID tests UHC gives weekly. Their response? The UGA Health Center isn't providing ANY of the data UGA posts re: their student testing.

Apparently the positive UHC test info that’s posted is from DawgCheck, which is self reported (in this case, by students). Reminder that the Health Center is where symptomatic students can go to be tested. We have asymptomatic surveillance testing available at another location.

From Dr. Russo’s email: “We report to the DPH all data on COVID as is the proper method of reporting notifiable diseases. What is being presented through DawgCheck are positive test reports as submitted by the individual, not the UHC.”

So according to Dr. Russo, none of the data in the weekly UGA update regarding the positive UHC tests is coming directly from the UGA Health Center... who is actually administering the tests for symptomatic students. 🤔

If that’s true, why is #UGA posting (potentially unreliable) self reported numbers instead of data directly from the UHC? Aren't we in a global pandemic? Don't we need reliable data to help us make decisions about our daily lives, AND public health decisions for the community?

From Dr. Russo's email: "The UHC is not hiding anything by keeping clinical data private while formally participating with Public Health. I understand perfectly well why these numbers are desired." (!!!)

But I wasn’t asking for “clinical data”... I was asking for a number of total tests, to know what percentage of students getting tested at the UHC are positive. We ARE provided this information for the surveillance tests, including a positivity rate based on those numbers.

The @ugahealthcenter could provide this relevant public health information in #UGA’s weekly COVID update *without* compromising patient privacy. They are either choosing not to share it or being asked not to share it. We need transparency NOW, @universityofga & @ugastudent.

Here is the UHC's response to this thread: Attaching a screenshot of the email I received. As a reminder, my original question was: how many total COVID tests were administered at the UHC last week?

FYI: this was Dr. Russo's first response to me. I wrote him once about a week ago and didn't receive a response, so I wrote again. I emailed the Health Center contact email multiple times in both August and September with no response before emailing him.