UPDATE: Still Attempting to Resolve NYC Hospital Data Discrepancy - Email to Austin Parish & John Ioannidis

This is an update on my attempts to resolve a discrepancy involving COVID death data for New York City’s public hospital system (which I previously described in another post).

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COVID Death Discrepancy for NYC Public Hospitals

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I reached out to Dr. Austin Parish (the lead author of the study described in my September 7, 2023 article) again this week with all-cause death data I obtained via public records request. I copied Dr. John Ioannidis in his capacity as co-director of METRICS.¹

See below for the text of my email² and corresponding attachments. I haven’t yet received a response.

May 7, 2024

Good day, Dr. Parish (& Dr. Ioannidis)

I previously reached out to you regarding your 2021 study -  specifically, data reported in Supplemental Table 2.  Our previous correspondence is attached as a PDF. 

Since then, I took additional steps to try to reconcile the discrepancies between the COVID-19 death data you obtained from NYC HHC and the data NYC HHC reported to New York State for the 11 public hospitals (source). 

You and I seemed to agree that the two datasets represent a “time-shift.” (Slide 1 in attached PPT). When I sum the data from your study and from the NYS file, there is a peak “between” the two datasets and a toll approaching 5,000 patients. (Slide 2 in PPT) An HHC report for fiscal year 2020 shows a daily average census of 3,200. This suggests the hospitals as a system lost 150% of census in a very short timeframe.

Since contacting you, I took additional steps to try to resolve the discrepancies, as part of my ongoing independent inquiry into the New York City spring 2020 event.

1) In August 2023, I contacted the HHC Office of the Inspector General about the difference. They referred me to a HHC COVID-19 Research Committee but did not receive a response. I’ve attached those emails for your reference. 

2) In October 2023, I received relevant data for HHC hospitals. Via FOI request, I had asked for daily deaths in HHC hospitals (all causes) for 1/1/2017-12/31/2020. HHC denied the 2017-2019 data, saying it is in another database that would require creating a new code to access - and therefore be creating “new record,” which they are not required to do in response to FOI requests. I’m not a lawyer and find that excuse deeply concerning, but they did provide the 2020 data, which is relevant to your study (Slides 3 and 4 in PPT).

3) Plotting the all-cause deaths alongside COVID-19 deaths reported in your study and by NYS (Slide 5 in PPT) suggests at least two things:

a) nearly every death in HHC hospitals which occurred during the city’s spring 2020 mass-casualty event was counted as a COVID-19 death, and

b) the data in Supplemental Table 2 of your study are discrepant with the other sources.

I would love to understand the discrepancy and expect you might as well.

Is there a chance you could reach out to HHC to confirm the correct timeframe of the data they provided to you?

I presume METRICS is still your affiliation, as it was when the study was published, and am therefore copying Dr. Ioannidis, in his capacity as co-director.

Respectfully,

Jessica Hockett, PhD

PPT attachment slide 1

PPT attachment slide 2

PPT attachment slide 3

PPT attachment slide 4

PPT attachment slide 5

Emails between Hockett & Parish

Emails between Hockett & HHC

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Related post

1. Dr. Parish’s affiliation when the study was published.

2. This version of the email contains some “hyperlinks” that aren’t linked in the email I sent to Drs. Parish & Ioannidis. I linked it in the Substack version for reader convenience.