PRESS RELEASE

Puerto Rico Statistics Institute Urges Secretary of Health to Provide Data on Covid-19 on the Island

April 8, 2020: In view of the non-compliance with the submission of data on COVID-19 in Puerto Rico and in accordance with Act No. 209-2003, as amended, known as the Statistics Institute Act, the executive director of that entity, Dr. Orville M. Disdier, made a formal request to the Secretary of the Department of Health (DS), Dr. Lorenzo González Feliciano, to provide the necessary data. “Although the Institute's Information Requirements Regulations state that, in response to an Official Information Request, the agency has up to 20 days to provide it, we ask the DS to do so immediately, as this is a matter of the highest priority, given the likelihood that infections and deaths will continue to increase in Puerto Rico,” said Disdier.

The Law that created the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) states that its purpose is to promote changes in data collection and statistics systems so that they are complete, reliable and accessible quickly and universally. To this end, the Institute has the primary mission of coordinating the Statistics Production Service of the Government of Puerto Rico, of requesting information, both from the public and private sectors, and of developing the policy for the development of the public statistical function. According to Disdier, although most agencies comply with this, unfortunately there are others that do not do their duty.

“Since long before this COVID-19 emergency began, the Institute has been communicating, through official email and phone calls, with the Department of Health to offer collaboration and request that they provide us with detailed data on cases of COVID-19 in Puerto Rico. In addition, we have held communications and meetings with staff from Fortaleza and with some members of the Task Force that advises the governor on this pandemic. They repeatedly state that they will provide the data, but the reality is that they arrive late, incomplete, in inadequate formats or there are days when they simply don't arrive,” he said.

Specifically, the Institute has requested the following information and detailed data, for each individual being tested for COVID-19 in Puerto Rico: Case number (Unique ID), sex (M, F, or other), region of residence, municipality of residence, age (in years), test results for COVID-19 (positive, negative, pending, undetermined, or other), date of onset of symptoms (day and month), date of sample collection or date of submission of the sample (day and month), and if the person died.

Disdier highlighted that, in order to promote greater collaboration, the Institute served as a facilitator and for a few days now, the project to implement a rapid system for the daily collection of data on COVID-19 in hospitals has been successfully completed. As a result, every day the Department of Health receives data from hospitals, in a fast, simple and standardized way.

“It is now up to the Department of Health to share the revised and official data with the Institute. That is, right now we should be receiving these official data on a daily basis and that is not happening. These data are necessary so that the Institute can keep citizens informed and to develop action plans that make it feasible to control this pandemic,” concluded Disdier.

To learn more about the Institute of Statistics, you can access the website: www.estadisticas.pr.gov. On social media through Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

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Contacts:

Idia M. Martinez, R-28, 787-603-3200

Lourdes Burgos, R-27, 787-562-2932

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