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CATEGORIES:Press Releases
DESCRIPTION:Attorney General Todd Rokita reveals faulty COVID-19 data in sh
 ocking report\n\nOn the four-year anniversary of Indiana’s stay-at-home ord
 ers\, Attorney General Todd Rokita unveiled the results of a report he comm
 issioned to expose the real numbers associated with the coronavirus lockdow
 ns.  \n\n“The truth is our government produced and relied on severely flawe
 d data\, including inflated death counts and unsound positivity rates\, to 
 shape the state’s failed response to the COVID-19 pandemic\,” Attorney Gene
 ral Rokita said. “This faulty data led to months of lockdowns\, mask mandat
 es\, and devastated our economy. Hoosiers shouldn’t have to choose between 
 their lives and their livelihoods.”  \n\nThe Office of Attorney General (OA
 G) prepared this report to inform Hoosiers\, elected officials\, and public
  health agencies of deficiencies identified in COVID-19 data.  \n\nOAG’s an
 alysis focused on two statistics widely reported and relied on by public he
 alth officials during the pandemic: the number of deaths attributed to COVI
 D-19 and the positivity rate (the total number of positive COVID-19 tests d
 ivided by the total number of COVID-19 tests administered). As evidenced in
  the report\, inflated death counts and unsound positivity rates informed p
 ublic policy decisions\, like detrimental lockdowns\, which harmed Hoosiers
 ’ mental and physical well-being and our children's education. \n\nVastly i
 nflated death counts:\n\nCOVID-19 was listed as a “cause of death” for nume
 rous deaths caused by gunshot wounds\, fires\, car accidents\, blunt force 
 trauma\, drowning and drug overdoses. Indiana's Management Performance Hub 
 (MPH) overreported COVID-19 deaths by 10.9 percent in 2020\, 7 percent in 2
 021 and 12.5 percent in 2022. County-level COVID-19 death counts reported b
 y local health departments had more significant variability than data repor
 ted by MPH\, with larger counties underreporting and smaller counties overr
 eporting.Unsound positivity rates: \n\nIDOH calculated each county’s positi
 vity rate by dividing the total number of positive tests by the total numbe
 r of tests provided. Therefore\, if a person tested five days in a row and 
 each test was positive\, that person contributed five positive cases to the
  positivity rate data.Those tested for COVID-19 had a higher probability of
  testing positive – individuals who were symptomatic and referred for testi
 ng by a physician and those required to be tested by their employer because
  they may be at a higher risk of exposure.IDOH funded the country’s first s
 tatewide prevalence survey testing 3\,658 randomly selected individuals and
  determined Indiana’s positivity rate was roughly ten times lower than the 
 rate calculated and reported by the state. IDOH discontinued the study afte
 r only three rounds of testing and continued to use biased positivity rate 
 data as a metric to impose county-level COVID-19 restrictions. “Our report 
 doesn’t just point out the flaws\,” Attorney General Rokita said. “It also 
 makes recommendations to address these issues in the future. To ensure Hoos
 iers’ liberties are protected\, Indiana must review the state’s framework f
 or addressing any future emergency and adopt professionally accepted criter
 ia for its reported data.” \n\nFindings from this analysis strongly indicat
 e that policymakers should establish a process that requires pandemic-relat
 ed decisions to be based solely on high-quality research and sound data rat
 her than anecdotal findings and faulty information. Further\, they should k
 eep Indiana’s economy and educational institutions fully open for business 
 during future public health challenges.  \n\nRead the full report here  \n\
 nA headshot of Attorney General Rokita is available for download.    \n\n##
 #
DTSTAMP:20260421T194420Z
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240325
LOCATION:
SEQUENCE:0
SUMMARY:Attorney General Todd Rokita reveals faulty COVID-19 data in shocki
 ng report
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_45986243787859
URL:https://events.in.gov/event/attorney-general-todd-rokita-reveals-faulty
 -covid-19-data-in-shocking-report
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