Public health unit for Oxford, Elgin counties pauses COVID-19 dashboard

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After roughly three years, the public health unit for the Oxford and Elgin counties region is pressing pause on its online

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COVID-19 data dashboard

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With recent changes to provincial data collection and limited testing in recent months, the statistical integrity of the dashboard’s information has been impacted, prompting public health officials to pause reporting as of Tuesday, May 9.

This decision to pause the online dashboard also coincides with the World Health Organization’s decision last week to end the global health emergency status for COVID-19.

“What began as a method to compile and report case data became an important tool for local residents to assess COVID-19 risks,” said Carolyn Richards, program manager for the unit’s foundational standards planning and epidemiology team, in a release. “A key function of public health is to report local health data – and that data needs to be reliable and relevant.

“We revised our reporting several times during the pandemic to adapt to changing data sources. We now have fewer data sources available, so a pause is needed.”

During this pause, the health unit’s epidemiologists will thoroughly review the data sources for COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases, including influenza. The health unit plans to then relaunch the dashboard as a respiratory virus dashboard, aligning with provincial surveillance plans for reporting on these diseases.

“We see such value in connecting local residents with data that informs them of health risks, especially as we plan for two to communicate other respiratory risks in fall and winter,” Ricahrds said.

Wastewater surveillance data for COVID-19 continues to be available for the wider Southwestern Ontario region through Public Health Ontario. Ongoing updates to COVID-19 and influenza activity by each health unit is also available through Public Health Ontario.

Established in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, the COVID-19 dashboard provided residents in the Southwestern public health region updates on local cases, hospitalizations, outbreaks, deaths and other information. More than 190,000 unique visitors had visited the dashboard annually since its inception.