About two dozen researchers from two Arizona universities were told in an email on Monday night from the Arizona Department of Health Services (AHDS) to put a “pause” on their COVID-19 modeling,
It seems that ADHS officials liked the federal government’s modeling of the coronavirus better than the modeling that came from Arizona State University and the University of Arizona. While the modeling from the researchers indicated Arizona could reach its peak in coronavirus cases in late May, a federal model suggests Arizona could reach its peak around June 11.
It should also be noted that the federal government’s modeling data is not made public. However, Arizona officials say they like the federal modeling better and the modeling “matches the actual facts and are most useful.”
On Tuesday, an ADHS spokesman sent ABC15 an email explaining the decision: “The reason that ADHS is pausing the internal modeling is, as we have said before, we are looking at several national models and have determined that FEMA is the most accurate to help us develop and implement public health interventions to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.”
ASU to continue modeling data
ASU has decided to disregard the Arizona government’s instructions to “pause” their work on COVID-19 modeling. In a statement to the Arizona Republic, ASU said: “Moving forward, ASU will continue to perform its COVID-19 research, and will make these updates publicly available during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.”
A tweet from U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema on Wednesday afternoon said that she was grateful the work would continue.
— Kyrsten Sinema (@SenatorSinema) May 6, 2020
