COVID-19 Data Collection and Reporting

To evaluate the State’s readiness to provide essential information needed to respond to the global pandemic, this operational audit focused on COVID-19 data collection and reporting processes at the Agency for Health Care Administration (Agency), Department of Health (Department), and Division of Emergency Management (Division) during the period March 1, 2020, through October 9, 2020. As subsequently described, the number of entities reporting data, apparent inaccurate or incomplete data reported to the State by those entities, and the lack of effective access controls in the systems used to gather data, impacted the State’s ability to accurately report COVID-19 data at the beginning of the pandemic. Notwithstanding, we recognize the great effort put forth by public servants in responding to and accounting for the COVID-19 pandemic