Importance of transparency in reporting data

Today, people around the world are suffering from #covid19. So many people have lost their loved ones due to this novel virus. Let's take a look at the #statistics represented by governments in the attached table. It shows the Coronavirus cases for the top ten countries worldwide on April 11, 2020.

Regarding the fact that these numbers reported by each country's health organization, some #worldleaders believe that some countries' governors don't have enough #transparency in publishing the infected individuals. Even in some countries, there are conflicts in the infected people's #statistical #distributions comparing to the models of the rest of the countries. In other words, while Coronavirus cases follow an #exponentialgrowth for most of the countries, for some countries it is approximately a linear function!

The question is "why being transparent in publishing #data is that much vital?". The answer lies in #statistical #predictions since this #data is used to forecast the trend of the disease and can help healthcare departments to figure out when the numbers of infected people catch the pick. Once it catches the pick, it is expected that the number of infected people decreases as time goes.

Once again, the importance of using the data in its correct way draws attention! In order to obtain reliable results, just like in every statistical analysis, one should consider the scales and measures. In this case, if all countries count the numbers of infected people using a recognizing kit, all countries should follow the kits' standards.

One may think that how it is possible to lie with statistics, however, unfortunately, it really happens occasionally. I can suggest a book with exactly this title: "How to Lie with Statistics" (https://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff/dp/0393310728). Abuse of Statistics can make bias in decision making which is absolutely dangerous when decisions dealing with human lives.

As a conclusion, it would be desirable to have a platform to track all gathering data methods even data used for such important daily reports if it is possible!

Stay home, stay safe.