Surgeon General: We’re Working with Real Coronavirus Data Now, Not Models

Surgeon General Jerome Adams emphasized in an interview on Monday with Sirius XM’s Breitbart News Daily host Alex Marlow that the Coronavirus Task Force is working with real data from the United States, instead of predictive models.

“What the American people need to know now is we actually have data, and so we’re tracking that data,” Adams said during the interview.

Previously, the task force was working with predictive models, frequently criticized because of their tendency to exaggerate the possible effect of the virus on the United States. Models predicting the deaths of millions and hundreds of thousands in America appear to be overblown, as the real-time data is showing the death count much lower.

Adams said that the models usually took data from different cultures and places around the globe, but they were able to track more accurately what could happen in the United States based on real data gathered in places such as California and New York.

“We’re following this data every single day, and we’re giving that data to communities so that they can make informed and intelligent decisions about when and where to reopen,” he said.

A significant indicator for communities being allowed to reopen, Adams said, was actual testing data, not a predictive model.

“I feel confident that some places will start to reopen in May and June. Other places won’t; it will be piece by piece, bit by bit, but will be data-driven,” he said.

Adams praised South Korea and Singapore, which closed their borders early, just like the United States did with travelers from China. But he said there are lessons learned across the board.

“No one alive has dealt with this before, and no one has got it exactly right,” he said.