Stockpiling and Job Worries: New Data on COVID-19 Highlights Crucial Role of Research

The University of Southern California just released data from a national survey about the Coronavirus. It is an excellent, high quality survey that uses the most rigorous methods available in our industry today. It is worth looking at just for the sake of seeing reliable and truthful numbers about a topic affecting us all.

Plus, it provides food for thought about why good surveys (like most of the surveys run by federal government agencies) are so crucial. Here is a summary of selected data:

I won’t offer commentary on these findings, except to say that some of these numbers are sobering.

Whatever you make of them, please consider this: Our government agencies and career civil servants are working tirelessly to help us weather this public health and economic crisis. Reliable and truthful data is absolutely essential to understanding what is happening and how best to respond. One piece of that is knowing how we are responding collectively so that information and interventions can help.

—Joe Hopper, Ph.D.