'Massive blindspot': Missing data in COVID pandemic leaves US vulnerable

He said through the website he helped create, which allows the public to self-report any symptoms, some 400 people who responded (out of the 400,000 who used it) said they tested positive for COVID. "The majority of people, at least 10x or more, who were displaying COVID symptoms said they were not tested," he said. As Brownstein explained, there are also people who are displaying symptoms that are not part of what he called the "case definition." Those people, because they don't fall in line with the listed symptoms, are not being tested in large numbers and therefore the range of symptoms officially associated with COVID is limited. "When we don't have the true insight of testing, when testing is uneven and not comprehensive, it creates a fear on the part of public health that we may be relying on imperfect data to make decisions," Brownstein said. Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist and associate research scientist at Columbia University's Center for Infection and Immunity, similarly said that the lack of data leaves the U.S. vulnerable when trying to understand the virus and make decisions going forward.