Changes to disease dashboard announced
Butte County Public Health has announced some changes to its COVID-19 dashboard that will likely expand into other tracking uses.
As the county prepares to transition from a pandemic stage to an endemic stage in regards to the virus, the online tool that previously served as a way to see up-todate data will be evolving.
Public Health Director Danette York unveiled the new version of the tool Tuesday during a Butte County Board of Supervisors meeting and said changes will consist of both the information presented and the online visuals. York said there were multiple reasons for the decision including the cost.
“A reason that we wanted to change the appearance and some of the information on our dashboard is that it’s more cost-effective,” York said. “We were paying for the platform we were using. This one is free and it is more automatic with the information we already have rather than taking staff time to physically put information in on the previous dashboard.”
The new dashboard is live on the Butte County Public Health website at bcph.netlify.app/. Along the top of the page are the numbers including total confirmed cases since March 14, 2020, confirmed cases since the beginning of this year, a seven-day average, the number of those hospitalized with COVID-19 and the total laboratory-confirmed deaths from the virus.
Below these numbers are multiple interactive graphs and charts with timelines related to infections and hospitalizations. A vaccine status chart is available as well that, as of Thursday, shows
56.4 percent of the county as fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Another 5.76% is partially vaccinated. Next to the chart is a graph showing the vaccination status by age, race and ethnicity.
York said the information on the website is funneled there through different state sources.
One particularly useful feature is that each chart can be zoomed into for more specific data by the day or week.
Just above the numbers at the top of the page is a tab that says COVID-19 that can be highlighted and selected, implying that more tabs could be available in the future. In addition to monitoring COVID-19, York said her department is hoping to add tracking for other diseases and viruses as well.
“We expect to do this for more than just COVID,” York said. “So the first thing that we’ll do is West Nile virus, probably within a month or so. We’ll have, at the very top of the dashboard, there is a place that says COVID and there will be another one that says West Nile virus and the public be able to track how many cases we have.”
Other future disease data that will likely be coming to the dashboard will be sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis, York said.
“It’s exciting that we can get this information out to the public in a better visual format,” York said.
“We expect to do this for more than just COVID. So the first thing we’ll do is West Nile virus, probably within a month or so. We’ll have, at the very top of the dashboard, there is a place that says COVID and there will be another one that says West Nile virus, and the public will be able to track how many cases we have.” — Danette York, Butte County public health director