VALDOSTA – “Recovery” is a vague term, according to Dr. Jian Zhang.

Zhang, professor of epidemiology at Georgia Southern University, described the word saying that “in most cases, (it is) meaningless to public health.”

When scanning the Georgia Department of Health daily status report, numbers of cases and death appear, but no numbers indicating how many patients have recovered from COVID-19.

Currently, the state public health department does not keep track of COVID-19 recovery rates, said Kristin Patten, South Health District public information officer.

So, the natural question is why not?

The reason is a focus on response and prevention. 

“While we understand the desire to know recovery rate information, due to the growing response required as cases continue to rapidly increase, our resources are best utilized by focusing on response and prevention,” Patten said.

Although not specifically speaking about South Georgia, Zhang sees the general lack of the coronavirus recovery data globally as a result of ambiguous definitions. 

Whereas as a “case” of COVID-19 can be determined by a laboratory test and a “death” can be easily verified, “recovery” can mean a variety of things such as being successfully treated or successfully cured, Zhang said.

By not having a widely accepted definition, collecting and publishing data on recovery numbers becomes inconsistent.

Zhang pointed to some “recovered” Wuhan patients testing positive for the coronavirus again and other “recovered” COVID-19 patients dying after being discharged from hospitals or being re-hospitalized. 

“Obviously, these Chinese COVID-19 patients were not fully recovered,” he said. “They were not cured. They were just treated successfully, which means the signs and symptoms with these patients had been managed or controlled successfully and they survived from the critical conditions.”

The South Health District did not mention inconsistencies in definition but a need to concentrate resources on confirming new cases and providing information on potential exposures.

“Public health staff must make contact with all new confirmed cases to gather a comprehensive history for each case and to provide guidance on necessary isolation procedures,” Patten said. “We are also responsible for contacting and offering guidance to potential exposures, including close contacts, places of business and public areas that could be considered at high risk of exposure.”

As the district continues to investigate cases and provide information for residents in its 10 South Georgia counties, Zhang said he did not foresee information about COVID-19 patient recoveries until scientists achieve a better understanding of the disease.

“As of now, very limited data is available to characterize the spectrum of clinical illness associated with COVID-19, there is no clinical or scientific foundation to define either ‘recovery’ or ‘cure,'” he said. “This is why recovery (numbers are) not available.”