diff --git a/R/pkgs/covidcommon/NAMESPACE b/R/pkgs/covidcommon/NAMESPACE
index 9a9ac974a..97ac2533c 100644
--- a/R/pkgs/covidcommon/NAMESPACE
+++ b/R/pkgs/covidcommon/NAMESPACE
@@ -9,7 +9,9 @@ export(create_prefix)
 export(get_CSSE_US_data)
 export(get_CSSE_US_matchGlobal_data)
 export(get_CSSE_global_data)
+export(get_LA_health_dpt_county_hosp_data)
 export(get_USAFacts_data)
+export(get_groundtruth_from_single_source)
 export(get_groundtruth_from_source)
 export(get_hhsCMU_allHosp_st_data)
 export(get_hhsCMU_hospCurr_st_data)
diff --git a/R/pkgs/covidcommon/R/DataUtils.R b/R/pkgs/covidcommon/R/DataUtils.R
index 6a3854211..4075bbbe4 100755
--- a/R/pkgs/covidcommon/R/DataUtils.R
+++ b/R/pkgs/covidcommon/R/DataUtils.R
@@ -707,8 +707,51 @@ get_reichlab_cty_data <- function(cum_case_filename = "data/case_data/rlab_cum_c
 ##'
 ##' @export
 ##'
-get_groundtruth_from_source <- function(source = "csse", scale = "US county", variables = c("Confirmed", "Deaths", "incidI", "incidDeath"),
-                                        incl_unass = FALSE, get_hosp = FALSE){
+get_groundtruth_from_source <- function(source = c("csse", "csse", "csse", "csse"), scale = "US county", variables = c("Confirmed", "Deaths", "incidI", "incidDeath"), incl_unass = FALSE, adjust_for_variant = FALSE, variant_props_file = "data/variant/variant_props_long.csv", misc_data_filename = NULL) {
+  df <- data.frame(
+    data_source = source,
+    variables = variables
+  )
+
+  df %>%
+    dplyr::group_by(data_source) %>%
+    dplyr::group_modify(function(.x,.y){
+      return(get_groundtruth_from_single_source(
+        source = .y$data_source,
+        scale = scale,
+        variables = .x$variables,
+        incl_unass = incl_unass,
+        adjust_for_variant = adjust_for_variant,
+        variant_props_file = variant_props_file,
+        misc_data_filename = misc_data_filename
+      ))
+    }) %>%
+    return()
+}
+
+##'
+##' Wrapper function to pull data from different sources
+##'
+##' Pulls a groundtruth dataset with the variables specified
+##'
+##' @param source name of data source: reichlab, usafacts, csse
+##' @param scale geographic scale: US county, US state, country (csse only), complete (csse only)
+##' @param variables vector that may include one or more of the following variable names: Confirmed, Deaths, incidI, incidDeath, (hhsCMU source only: incidH_confirmed, incidH_all, hospCurr_confirmed, hospCurr_all)
+##' @return data frame
+##'
+##' @importFrom magrittr %>%
+##'
+##' @export
+##'
+get_groundtruth_from_single_source <- function(source = "csse", scale = "US county", variables = c("Confirmed", "Deaths", "incidI", "incidDeath"), incl_unass = FALSE, adjust_for_variant = FALSE, variant_props_file = "data/variant/variant_props_long.csv", misc_data_filename = NULL) {
+
+  if(length(source) > 1) {
+    stop(paste(
+        "get_groundtruth_from_single_source only allows a single source, but",
+        paste(source, collapse = ", "),
+        "was provided"
+      ))
+  }
 
   if(source == "reichlab" & scale == "US county"){
 
@@ -773,25 +816,41 @@ get_groundtruth_from_source <- function(source = "csse", scale = "US county", va
 
   } else if(source == "hhsCMU" & scale == "US state"){
 
-    rc <- get_hhsCMU_cleanHosp_st_data()
+    rc <- get_hhsCMU_incidH_st_data()
+    rc <- dplyr::mutate(rc, FIPS = paste0(FIPS, "000"))
     rc <- dplyr::select(rc, Update, FIPS, source, !!variables)
     rc <- tidyr::drop_na(rc, tidyselect::everything())
 
-  } else{
-    warning(print(paste("The combination of ", source, "and", scale, "is not valid. Returning NULL object.")))
-    rc <- NULL
-  }
-  
-  if(get_hosp & scale == "US state") {
-    hosp <- get_hhsCMU_incidH_st_data()
-    hosp <- hosp %>% dplyr::select(-FIPS)
-    rc <- left_join(rc, hosp)
+  } else if ((source == "LA health dpt") && (scale == "US county")) {
+    
+    rc <- get_LA_health_dpt_county_hosp_data(misc_data_filename)
+    
+  }  else {
+    warning(print(paste("The combination of ", source, "and", scale, "is not valid. Returning empty tibble.")))
+    rc <- dplyr::as_tibble(NULL)
   }
+ 
 
   return(rc)
 
 }
 
+##'
+##' Pull LA data
+##' 
+##' @export
+get_LA_health_dpt_county_hosp_data <- function(hosp_file_name = "data/LACDPH/hospitalizations/20210813.xlsx"){
+  dat <- readxl::read_xlsx(hosp_file_name) %>%
+    dplyr::rename(incidH = incidH_covid) %>%
+    dplyr::mutate(incidH = dplyr::na_if(incidH, "n/a")) %>%
+    dplyr::mutate(date = as.Date(date), incidH = as.numeric(incidH), 
+                  FIPS = "06037") %>%
+    dplyr::select(Update=date, FIPS, incidH) %>%
+    dplyr::ungroup()
+
+  return(dat)
+}
+
 ##'
 ##' Pull CSSE US data in format similar to that of global data
 ##'
diff --git a/R/pkgs/covidcommon/tests/testthat/test-get_groundtruth_from_source.R b/R/pkgs/covidcommon/tests/testthat/test-get_groundtruth_from_source.R
index 368a6db7d..d9080ecdd 100644
--- a/R/pkgs/covidcommon/tests/testthat/test-get_groundtruth_from_source.R
+++ b/R/pkgs/covidcommon/tests/testthat/test-get_groundtruth_from_source.R
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ test_that("get_groundtruth_from_source works", {
   csse_st_ctyonly <- get_groundtruth_from_source(source = "csse", scale = "US state", incl_unass = FALSE)
   fake <- get_groundtruth_from_source(source = "fakesource")
 
-  expect_null(fake)
+  expect_equal(nrow(fake),
+               0)
   usaf_cty_processed <- usaf_cty %>%
     dplyr::mutate(FIPS = stringr::str_sub(FIPS, 1, 2)) %>%
     dplyr::group_by(Update, FIPS, source) %>%
diff --git a/R/pkgs/inference/R/filter_MC_runner_funcs.R b/R/pkgs/inference/R/filter_MC_runner_funcs.R
index 0e3bd1467..07e606adb 100644
--- a/R/pkgs/inference/R/filter_MC_runner_funcs.R
+++ b/R/pkgs/inference/R/filter_MC_runner_funcs.R
@@ -64,12 +64,13 @@ aggregate_and_calc_loc_likelihoods <- function(
     this_location_log_likelihood <- 0
     for (var in names(ground_truth_data[[location]])) {
 
+      observed_indices <- !is.na(ground_truth_data[[location]][[var]]$data_var)
 
       this_location_log_likelihood <- this_location_log_likelihood +
         ## Actually compute likelihood for this location and statistic here:
         sum(inference::logLikStat(
-          obs = ground_truth_data[[location]][[var]]$data_var,
-          sim = this_location_modeled_outcome[[var]]$sim_var,
+          obs = ground_truth_data[[location]][[var]]$data_var[observed_indices],
+          sim = this_location_modeled_outcome[[var]]$sim_var[observed_indices],
           dist = config$filtering$statistics[[var]]$likelihood$dist,
           param = config$filtering$statistics[[var]]$likelihood$param,
           add_one = config$filtering$statistics[[var]]$add_one
diff --git a/R/pkgs/inference/R/groundtruth.R b/R/pkgs/inference/R/groundtruth.R
index e4a62cb8c..84896f22e 100644
--- a/R/pkgs/inference/R/groundtruth.R
+++ b/R/pkgs/inference/R/groundtruth.R
@@ -2,39 +2,72 @@
 #' @param data_path Path where to write the data
 #' @param cache logical indicating whether to cache the data (default = TRUE)
 #' @param gt_source string indicating source of ground truth data. options include "csse" or "usafacts" (default csse)
-#' @param gt_scale string indicating whether "US county" or "US state"-level data 
+#' @param gt_scale string indicating whether "US county" or "US state"-level data
 #'
 #' @return NULL
 #'
 #' @export
-get_ground_truth_file <- function(data_path, cache = TRUE, gt_source = "csse", gt_scale = "US county") {
+get_ground_truth_file <- function(data_path, cache = TRUE, gt_source = "csse", gt_scale = "US county", gt_vars = c("Confirmed", "Deaths", "incidI", "incidDeath"), new_vars = gt_vars, fips_column_name = "geoid", date_column_name = "date", misc_data_filename = NULL) {
   data_dir <- dirname(data_path)
+
   if(!dir.exists(data_dir)){
     suppressWarnings(dir.create(data_dir,recursive=TRUE))
   }
+
+  if (length(gt_vars) != length(new_vars)) {
+    stop(paste(
+      "groundtruth variables and new variables should have the same number of elements, got:",
+      "(", paste(gt_vars, collapse = ", "), ")",
+      "and",
+      "(", paste(new_vars, collapse = ", "), ")"
+    ))
+  }
+
+  if(!isTRUE(all.equal(gt_vars, new_vars))){
+    warning("new_vars is deprecated, please adjust data_var to match gt_column_name")
+  }
+
   if(!(file.exists(data_path) & cache)){
     message(paste("*** Loading Data from", gt_source, "\n"))
-    cases_deaths <- suppressMessages(covidcommon::get_groundtruth_from_source(source = gt_source, scale = gt_scale, variables = c("Confirmed", "Deaths", "incidI", "incidDeath"), incl_unass = ifelse(gt_scale == "US state", TRUE, FALSE)))
-    cases_deaths  <- dplyr::arrange(
-      dplyr::rename(
-        dplyr::mutate(
-          cases_deaths,
-          Update = lubridate::ymd(Update)
-        ),
-        date = Update,
-        cumConfirmed = Confirmed,
-        cumDeaths = Deaths,
-        confirmed_incid = incidI,
-        death_incid = incidDeath
+    cases_deaths <- suppressMessages(covidcommon::get_groundtruth_from_source(
+      source = gt_source,
+      scale = gt_scale,
+      variables = gt_vars,
+      incl_unass = ifelse(gt_scale == "US state", TRUE, FALSE), 
+      misc_data_filename = misc_data_filename
+    ))
+    cases_deaths <- dplyr::arrange(
+      dplyr::mutate(
+        cases_deaths,
+        Update = lubridate::ymd(Update)
       ),
-      date
+      Update
     )
-    if(any(is.na(cases_deaths$cumConfirmed))){
-      cases_deaths$cumConfirmed[is.na(cases_deaths$cumConfirmed)] <- 0
+
+    gt_vars <- c("Update", "FIPS", gt_vars)
+    new_vars <- c(date_column_name, fips_column_name, new_vars)
+
+    if(!all(gt_vars %in% names(cases_deaths))) {
+      stop(paste(
+        "Could not find all expected names.  Looking for",
+        "(", paste(gt_vars, collapse = ", "), ")",
+        "found",
+        "(", paste(names(cases_deaths), collapse = ", "), ")"
+      ))
     }
-    if(any(is.na(cases_deaths$cumDeaths))){
-      cases_deaths$cumDeaths[is.na(cases_deaths$cumDeaths)] <- 0
+    if(!all(names(cases_deaths) %in% gt_vars)) {
+      warning(paste(
+        "Found more than the expected names.  Looking for",
+        "(", paste(gt_vars, collapse = ", "), ")",
+        "found",
+        "(", paste(names(cases_deaths), collapse = ", "), ")",
+        "extra",
+        "(", paste(names(cases_deaths)[!(names(cases_deaths) %in% gt_vars)], collapse = ", "), ")"
+      ))
     }
+    names(cases_deaths)[names(cases_deaths) %in% gt_vars] <-
+      setNames(new_vars, gt_vars)[names(cases_deaths)[names(cases_deaths) %in% gt_vars]]
+
     readr::write_csv(cases_deaths, data_path)
     rm(cases_deaths)
     message("*** DONE Loading Data \n")
@@ -49,24 +82,79 @@ get_ground_truth_file <- function(data_path, cache = TRUE, gt_source = "csse", g
 #' @param data_path Path where to write the data
 #'
 #' @export
-get_ground_truth <- function(data_path, fips_codes, fips_column_name, start_date, end_date, cache = TRUE, gt_source = "csse", gt_scale = "US county"){
-  get_ground_truth_file(data_path = data_path, cache = cache, gt_source = gt_source, gt_scale = gt_scale)
+get_ground_truth <- function(
+  data_path,
+  fips_codes = NULL,
+  fips_column_name = "geoid",
+  date_column_name = "date",
+  start_date = NULL,
+  end_date = NULL,
+  cache = TRUE,
+  gt_source = "csse",
+  gt_scale = "US county",
+  gt_vars = c("Confirmed", "Deaths", "incidI", "incidDeath"),
+  new_vars = gt_vars, 
+  misc_data_filename = NULL
+) {
 
-  rc <- suppressMessages(readr::read_csv(data_path,col_types = list(FIPS = readr::col_character())))
-  rc <- dplyr::filter(
-    rc,
-    FIPS %in% fips_codes,
-    date >= start_date,
-    date <= end_date
-  )
-  rc <- dplyr::right_join(
-    rc,
-    tidyr::expand_grid(
-      FIPS = unique(rc$FIPS),
-      date = unique(rc$date)
-    )
+  get_ground_truth_file(
+    data_path = data_path,
+    cache = cache,
+    gt_source = gt_source,
+    gt_scale = gt_scale,
+    gt_vars = gt_vars,
+    new_vars = new_vars,
+    fips_column_name = fips_column_name,
+    date_column_name = date_column_name, 
+    misc_data_filename = misc_data_filename
   )
-  rc <- dplyr::mutate_if(rc,is.numeric,dplyr::coalesce,0)
-  names(rc)[names(rc) == "FIPS"] <- fips_column_name
+
+  
+    rc <- suppressMessages(readr::read_csv(data_path,col_types = list(FIPS = readr::col_character())))
+
+  if(is.null(start_date)) {
+    start_date <- min(rc$date)
+  }
+
+  if(is.null(end_date)) {
+    end_date <- max(rc$date)
+  }
+
+  if (is.null(fips_codes)) {
+    fips_codes <- unique(rc$fips_codes)
+  }
+  
+  if(length(start_date)!=length(gt_vars) & length(start_date)==1){
+    start_date <- rep(start_date, length(gt_vars))
+  } else if(length(start_date)!=length(gt_vars)){
+      warning("No start date specified for at least one of the variables; the variable will be removed from the groundtruth")
+  }
+  
+  if(length(end_date)!=length(gt_vars) & length(end_date)==1){
+    end_date <- rep(end_date, length(gt_vars))
+  } else if(length(end_date)!=length(gt_vars)){
+      warning("No end date specified for at least one of the variables; the variable will be removed from the groundtruth")
+  }
+  
+  rc <- rc %>%
+    dplyr::filter(!!rlang::sym(fips_column_name) %in% fips_codes) %>%
+    tidyr::pivot_longer(tidyselect::all_of(new_vars)) %>%
+    dplyr::mutate(
+      start_date = lubridate::ymd(start_date[match(name,new_vars)]),
+      end_date = lubridate::ymd(end_date[match(name,new_vars)])
+    ) %>%
+    dplyr::filter(
+      start_date <= !!rlang::sym(date_column_name),
+      !!rlang::sym(date_column_name) <= end_date
+    ) %>%
+    tidyr::pivot_wider(names_from = name, values_from = value) %>%
+    dplyr::right_join(
+        tidyr::expand_grid(
+            !!rlang::sym(fips_column_name) := fips_codes
+        )
+    ) %>%
+    dplyr::filter(!is.na(!!rlang::sym(date_column_name))) %>%
+    dplyr::mutate(geoid = !!rlang::sym(fips_column_name))
+
   return(rc)
 }
diff --git a/R/pkgs/inference/tests/testthat/test-get_ground_truth_file.R b/R/pkgs/inference/tests/testthat/test-get_ground_truth_file.R
index a1a92b1c6..d9bf22c11 100644
--- a/R/pkgs/inference/tests/testthat/test-get_ground_truth_file.R
+++ b/R/pkgs/inference/tests/testthat/test-get_ground_truth_file.R
@@ -5,10 +5,10 @@ test_that("get_ground_truth_file creates a file",{
     warning("Testing should not be using a file that already exists")
     file.remove(data_path)
   }
-  expect_error(get_ground_truth_file(data_path,FALSE),NA)
+  expect_error(get_ground_truth_file(data_path,cache=FALSE),NA)
   expect_equal(file.exists(data_path),TRUE)
 
-  expect_error(get_ground_truth_file(data_path,TRUE),NA)
+  expect_error(get_ground_truth_file(data_path,cache=TRUE),NA)
   expect_equal(file.exists(data_path),TRUE)
 })
 
@@ -18,16 +18,14 @@ test_that("get_ground_truth returns an appropriate data frame",{
   fips_column_name <- "test_fips_column"
   start_date <- lubridate::ymd("2020-04-15")
   end_date <- lubridate::ymd("2020-04-30")
-  expect_error({get_ground_truth(data_path,fips_codes,fips_column_name,start_date,end_date,FALSE)},NA)
-  expect_error({get_ground_truth(data_path,fips_codes,fips_column_name,start_date,end_date,TRUE)},NA)
+  new_vars <- c("cumConfirmed", "cumDeaths", "confirmed_incid","death_incid")
+  expect_error({get_ground_truth(data_path = data_path,fips_codes = fips_codes,fips_column_name = fips_column_name,start_date = start_date,end_date = end_date, new_vars = new_vars, cache=FALSE)},NA)
+  expect_error({get_ground_truth(data_path = data_path,fips_codes = fips_codes, fips_column_name = fips_column_name,start_date = start_date,end_date = end_date, new_vars = new_vars, cache=TRUE)},NA)
   expect_equal({
-    all(c(fips_column_name,"date","confirmed_incid","death_incid", "cumConfirmed", "cumDeaths") %in% names(get_ground_truth(data_path,fips_codes,fips_column_name,start_date,end_date,TRUE)))
+    all(c(fips_column_name,"date","cumConfirmed", "cumDeaths", "confirmed_incid","death_incid") %in% names(get_ground_truth(data_path = data_path,fips_codes = fips_codes, fips_column_name = fips_column_name,start_date = start_date,end_date = end_date, new_vars = new_vars, cache=TRUE)))
   },TRUE)
-  expect_equal({
-    all(c(fips_column_name,"date","confirmed_incid","death_incid", "cumConfirmed", "cumDeaths") %in% names(get_ground_truth(data_path,fips_codes,fips_column_name,start_date,end_date,TRUE)))
-  },TRUE)
-  expect_gt(nrow(get_ground_truth(data_path,fips_codes,fips_column_name,start_date,end_date,TRUE)),0)
-  expect_equal(all(get_ground_truth(data_path,fips_codes,fips_column_name,start_date,end_date,TRUE)[[fips_column_name]] %in% fips_codes),TRUE)
-  expect_equal(all(get_ground_truth(data_path,fips_codes,fips_column_name,start_date,end_date,TRUE)$date >= start_date),TRUE)
-  expect_equal(all(get_ground_truth(data_path,fips_codes,fips_column_name,start_date,end_date,TRUE)$date <= end_date),TRUE)
+  expect_gt(nrow(get_ground_truth(data_path = data_path,fips_codes = fips_codes, fips_column_name = fips_column_name,start_date = start_date,end_date = end_date, new_vars = new_vars,cache=TRUE)),0)
+  expect_equal(all(get_ground_truth(data_path = data_path,fips_codes = fips_codes, fips_column_name = fips_column_name,start_date = start_date,end_date = end_date, new_vars = new_vars,cache=TRUE)[[fips_column_name]] %in% fips_codes),TRUE)
+  expect_equal(all(get_ground_truth(data_path = data_path,fips_codes = fips_codes, fips_column_name = fips_column_name,start_date = start_date,end_date = end_date, new_vars = new_vars,cache=TRUE)$date >= start_date),TRUE)
+  expect_equal(all(get_ground_truth(data_path = data_path,fips_codes = fips_codes, fips_column_name = fips_column_name,start_date = start_date,end_date = end_date, new_vars = new_vars,cache=TRUE)$date <= end_date),TRUE)
 })
diff --git a/R/scripts/create_seeding.R b/R/scripts/create_seeding.R
index dfefc35ec..e2f3185c3 100644
--- a/R/scripts/create_seeding.R
+++ b/R/scripts/create_seeding.R
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ if(is.null(config$filtering$gt_source)){
 } else{
   gt_source <- config$filtering$gt_source
 }
+
 if(is.null(config$seeding$delay_incidC)){
   config$seeding$delay_incidC <- 5
 }
@@ -80,9 +81,27 @@ if(is.null(config$seeding$ratio_incidC)){
   config$seeding$ratio_incidC <- 10
 }
 
+if(is_US_run){
+  state_level <- ifelse(!is.null(config$spatial_setup$state_level) && config$spatial_setup$state_level, TRUE, FALSE)
+  if(state_level){
+    gt_scale <- "US state"
+    include_unassigned <- TRUE
+  } else{
+    gt_scale <- "US county"
+    include_unassigned <- FALSE
+  }
+} else{
+  gt_scale <- "US county"
+  include_unassigned <- FALSE
+}
+
 if(!is.null(gt_source)){
-  cases_deaths <- covidcommon::get_groundtruth_from_source(source = gt_source, scale = "US county")
+  cases_deaths <- covidcommon::get_groundtruth_from_source(source = gt_source, scale = gt_scale, incl_unass = include_unassigned)
   print(paste("Successfully pulled", gt_source, "data for seeding."))
+  if(is_US_run){
+    cases_deaths <- cases_deaths %>%
+      mutate(FIPS = stringr::str_pad(FIPS, width = 5, side="right", pad="0"))
+  }
 } else {
   data_path <- config$filtering$data_path
   if(is.null(data_path)){
@@ -95,19 +114,19 @@ if(!is.null(gt_source)){
   print(paste("Successfully loaded data from ", data_path, "for seeding."))
 }
 
-# Aggregation to state level if in config
-if(is_US_run){
-  state_level <- ifelse(!is.null(config$spatial_setup$state_level) && config$spatial_setup$state_level, TRUE, FALSE)
-  if(state_level){
-    gt_scale <- "US state"
-    cases_deaths <- covidcommon::get_groundtruth_from_source(source = gt_source, scale = gt_scale, incl_unass = TRUE) 
-  } else{
-    gt_scale <- "US county"
-    cases_deaths <- covidcommon::get_groundtruth_from_source(source = gt_source, scale = gt_scale) 
-  }
-  cases_deaths <- cases_deaths %>%
-    mutate(FIPS = stringr::str_pad(FIPS, width = 5, side="right", pad="0"))
-}
+# # Aggregation to state level if in config
+# if(is_US_run){
+#   state_level <- ifelse(!is.null(config$spatial_setup$state_level) && config$spatial_setup$state_level, TRUE, FALSE)
+#   if(state_level){
+#     gt_scale <- "US state"
+#     cases_deaths <- covidcommon::get_groundtruth_from_source(source = gt_source, scale = gt_scale, incl_unass = TRUE) 
+#   } else{
+#     gt_scale <- "US county"
+#     cases_deaths <- covidcommon::get_groundtruth_from_source(source = gt_source, scale = gt_scale) 
+#   }
+#   cases_deaths <- cases_deaths %>%
+#     mutate(FIPS = stringr::str_pad(FIPS, width = 5, side="right", pad="0"))
+# }
 
 ## Check some data attributes:
 ## This is a hack:
diff --git a/R/scripts/filter_MC.R b/R/scripts/filter_MC.R
index fb60f8c40..7e6976535 100644
--- a/R/scripts/filter_MC.R
+++ b/R/scripts/filter_MC.R
@@ -136,35 +136,58 @@ if("priors"%in%names(config$filtering)) {
 ## Runner Script---------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 ## backwards compatibility with configs that don't have filtering$gt_source parameter will use the previous default data source (USA Facts)
-if(is.null(config$filtering$gt_source)){
-  gt_source <- "usafacts"
-} else{
-  gt_source <- config$filtering$gt_source
+
+new_vars <- unlist(sapply(config$filtering$statistics, function(x){x$data_var}))
+gt_vars <- unlist(sapply(config$filtering$statistics, function(x){x$gt_column_name}))
+if (is.null(gt_vars)) { # compatility with old configs
+  warning("Please specify gt_column_name in each inference statistic.  Defaulting to incident and cumulative confirmed cases and deaths")
+  gt_vars <- c("Confirmed", "Deaths", "incidI", "incidDeath")
+  new_vars <- c("cumConfirmed", "cumDeaths", "confirmed_incid", "death_incid")
+}
+
+gt_source <- unlist(sapply(config$filtering$statistics, function(x){x$gt_source}))
+if (is.null(gt_source)) {
+
+  if(is.null(config$filtering$gt_source)){
+    warning("Please specify gt_source in each inference statistic.  Defaulting to USA Facts")
+    gt_source <- "usafacts"
+  } else{
+    warning("Please specify gt_source in each inference statistic.  Defaulting to global filtering source")
+    gt_source <- config$filtering$gt_source
+  }
 }
 
 gt_scale <- ifelse(state_level, "US state", "US county")
 fips_codes_ <- geodata[[obs_nodename]]
 
-gt_start_date <- lubridate::ymd(config$start_date)
+gt_start_date <- unlist(sapply(config$filtering$statistics, function(x){x$start_date}))
+if(is.null(gt_start_date)) {
+  gt_start_date <- lubridate::ymd(config$start_date)
+  gt_start_date <- rep(gt_start_date, times = length(gt_vars))
+}
 if (opt$ground_truth_start != "") {
-  gt_start_date <- lubridate::ymd(opt$ground_truth_start)
+  gt_start_date <- pmax(gt_start_date, lubridate::ymd(opt$ground_truth_start))
 } else if (!is.null(config$start_date_groundtruth)) {
-  gt_start_date <- lubridate::ymd(config$start_date_groundtruth)
-}
-if (gt_start_date < lubridate::ymd(config$start_date)) {
-  gt_start_date <- lubridate::ymd(config$start_date)
+  gt_start_date <- pmax(gt_start_date, lubridate::ymd(config$start_date_groundtruth))
 }
 
-gt_end_date <- lubridate::ymd(config$end_date)
+gt_end_date <- unlist(sapply(config$filtering$statistics, function(x){x$end_date}))
+if(is.null(gt_end_date)) {
+  gt_end_date <- lubridate::ymd(config$end_date)
+  gt_end_date <- rep(gt_end_date, times = length(gt_vars))
+}
 if (opt$ground_truth_end != "") {
-  gt_end_date <- lubridate::ymd(opt$ground_truth_end)
+  gt_end_date <- pmin(gt_end_date, lubridate::ymd(opt$ground_truth_end))
 } else if (!is.null(config$end_date_groundtruth)) {
-  gt_end_date <- lubridate::ymd(config$end_date_groundtruth)
-}
-if (gt_end_date > lubridate::ymd(config$end_date)) {
-  gt_end_date <- lubridate::ymd(config$end_date)
+  gt_end_date <- pmin(gt_end_date, lubridate::ymd(config$end_date_groundtruth))
 }
 
+misc_data_filename <- unlist(sapply(config$filtering$statistics, function(x){x$misc_data_filename}))
+if(is.null(misc_data_filename)) {
+  if(!is.null(config$filtering$misc_data_filename)){
+    misc_data_filename <- config$filtering$misc_data_filename
+  }
+}
 
 obs <- inference::get_ground_truth(
           data_path = data_path,
@@ -173,7 +196,10 @@ obs <- inference::get_ground_truth(
           start_date = gt_start_date,
           end_date = gt_end_date,
           gt_source = gt_source,
-          gt_scale = gt_scale
+          gt_scale = gt_scale,
+          gt_vars = gt_vars,
+          new_vars = new_vars, 
+          misc_data_filename = misc_data_filename
 )
 
 geonames <- unique(obs[[obs_nodename]])