Editor's note: This story was updated with new information released by Sparrow Health System Friday morning.

LANSING – As the coronavirus pandemic worsens in Greater Lansing, with cases now in the hundreds and the region's first deaths recorded, the scale of the problem here is murky.

In metro Detroit, local hospitals and health departments have been blunt about the growing numbers of infections and deaths, hospital capacity to manage cases – including how many ventilators they have – and what they're doing to prepare for even more patients.

Yet as mid-Michigan's numbers climb, it's hard to get similar information here.

While the three health departments that serve Greater Lansing are releasing numbers of positive tests and deaths, neither they nor local hospitals are sharing data on negative tests, numbers of patients hospitalized, number of positive cases being monitored at home or the number of patients who have recovered. Nor will they say if enough ventilators are on hand should the outbreak worsen.

Part of their reasoning: It's too early.

Providing more complete patient data when the numbers are still relatively low could lead people to draw false impressions about the impact of COVID-19 in the region, especially when compared to much higher numbers in metro Detroit and the rest of southeast Michigan, said Amanda Darche, spokesperson for the Ingham County Health Department.

"Sometimes when you have really small numbers, it’s just not helpful," Darche said.

Departments hope to share more data 'soon'

Spokespeople for two of the three health departments that cover Clinton, Eaton and Ingham counties said they hope to share more complete numbers soon.

Darche said Ingham County hasn't yet reached the threshold where officials believe more detailed testing data will be useful to the public, but the county is "getting close."

“We’re working to get our dashboard in place,” Darche said, referring to data that will be updated regularly and shared with the public. “I think everyone is moving in that direction.”

Ingham County’s dashboard will include:

The number of COVID-19 cases

A breakdown by gender and age groups

The number of people who have recovered from COVID-19. People are considered recovered if they’ve been fever-free for 72 hours and gone a week without othersymptoms since the onset.

Ingham County Health Department also plans to begin regular briefings for media to help communicate its efforts, starting with a video conference at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

The Barry Eaton District Health Department has been releasing the number of positive cases and data on individuals under monitoring for COVID-19.

"BEDHD does not have any plans to release more detailed information on COVID cases," said Milea Burgstahler, a community health promotion specialist with the department. "We are continuously working to notify and educate individuals who may have been in contact with a confirmed case in order to prevent further spread of COVID-19."

The Mid-Michigan District Health Department, which covers Clinton, Gratiot and Montcalm counties, is working on a data map that will give more detailed information on coronavirus cases, spokesperson Leslie Kinnee said.

“We have run into a few roadblocks but are making steady progress,” she said. “We hope to be able to start sharing data soon.”

Hospitals: Numbers 'constantly changing'

Lansing area hospitals are not publicly releasing any information on the number of positive tests and negative tests at their facilities; how many patients are hospitalized because of the virus; or how many patients are being monitored for the virus.

Elsewhere, particularly in Metro Detroit, hospitals are sharing more of that information.

Beaumont Health, which has hospitals in suburban Detroit, does daily updates on the number of positive tests, negative tests, pending tests, and whether people diagnosed with COVID-19 have been hospitalized or sent home.

Henry Ford Health System also compiles and releases the number of positive COVID-19 cases, the number of negative cases and how many patients are hospitalized because of the virus.

At Sparrow, the numbers are “constantly changing,” said Ilene Cantor, the hospital's vice president for marketing and communications.

“We are working to use all of our resources and capacity to fulfill the needs of our patients,” she said.

McLaren officials have opted to report all data directly to local health departments and the state.

“To avoid confusion and misinformation, McLaren will no longer provide this same or similar data to any media outlets in order to maintain an accurate, timely information flow to MDHHS as it works collaboratively with all health care providers in Michigan to respond to this ongoing public health crisis,” spokesman Jon Adamy said.

Hospitals also won't say how many beds, ventilators available

In Ingham County, Darche said the hospitals would be "the best source" to respond to questions about the number of available hospital beds and ventilators.

Yet the hospitals declined to provide that information.

“McLaren Greater Lansing currently has the necessary equipment to care for our patients, and we have multiple teams working constantly on all aspects of our supply chain management,” the hospital said in a written statement. “One of the benefits of being a large, integrated system is that we can share resources between our hospitals. We will continue to adapt our inventory of supplies as the situation evolves.”

Sparrow spokesman John Foren said he could not provide an exact number of ventilators available.

“We currently have an adequate supply of ventilators but we’re in uncharted territory, so we are using all of our resources and contacts to obtain more and prepare for potential future needs,” Foren said.

The hospitals are reporting exact numbers to a host of government entities, he said after the State Journal published this story. But Sparrow, at least, is hesitant to publicize those numbers and seem overconfident because of how quickly things are changing, he said.

He added they do have plans in place for a surge even though they won't share specifics.

"We've got plans to accommodate up to twice the number of patient beds that we have throughout our health system," Foren said.

Contact reporter Craig Lyons at 517-377-1047 or calyons@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @craigalyons. Contact reporter Megan Banta at mbanta@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @MeganBanta_1.