Why It’s Time to Get Serious About Intergovernmental Data Sharing The continuing problems with COVID-19 data illustrate why we need to do a better job. Initiatives by some states and local governments are showing how to make that happen and derive greater value. John M. Kamensky, IBM Center for the Business of Government | December 16, 2020 | Opinion New York Times op-ed, performance-data pioneer Beth Blauer and epidemiologist Jennifer Nuzzo labeled the state of the nation's COVID-19 data as "a mess." Eight months into the pandemic, they wrote, "there is still no federal standard to ensure testing results are being uniformly reported." Efforts like Johns Hopkins' Coronavirus Resource Center try to standardize where possible, but overall the national numbers are inconsistent. This hinders policymakers' ability to smartly allocate resources, such as vaccines, to where they will do the most good.