Short abstract:

The pandemic disrupted many health data infrastructures. Drawing on the case of France, we explore three kinds of trials (logistical, representational, enunciative) that had to be overcome daily for data to be fed ‘up’ to the central state administration, and gave rise to various forms of data care.

Long abstract:

The Covid-19 crisis disrupted epidemiological data infrastructures in numerous countries. These upheavals were first due to the uncertainties surrounding the nature of the virus and its modes of dissemination. They were accentuated by the WHO's demand for transparency, the widespread implementation of real-time monitoring, and unprecedented centralization efforts aimed at producing a state-centric vision of the pandemic.

Drawing on the case of French administration, this communication will explore the infrastructural transformations that unfolded behind the scenes of what has been described as a ‘data-driven pandemic’. Taking our inspiration from infrastructure studies and pragmatism, we will show that, in order for data to be fed ‘up’ to the central services, different kinds of trials had to be overcome through various modes of caring. We will detail three of them:

- logistics trials, that required on-the-spot adaptation or complete creation of complex instruments dedicated to the gathering and circulation of various data from different places,

- representational trials, which took the form of a shared concern regarding the ability of data to properly represent the reality of the pandemic, and translated into mundane and continuous forms of data care.

- enunciative trials, that arose when local authorities would communicate numbers that were not aligned with those available on government open data sets, and were notably overcome through initiatives explaining the ‘good organizational reasons’ for such misalignments.

Finally, we will discuss to what extent such care for data and their infrastructure persists once the crisis subsided. What has been learnt from these trials?