Vermont withdraws daily COVID-19 data dashboard. How to find risk information.
As of May 18, the state of Vermont is no longer updating its online COVID-19 case data on a daily basis.
Instead, Vermont will release a COVID-19 trend report on a weekly basis, which government officials say will help focus on data that is most useful for monitoring and determining the risk in Vermont.
Vermont’s health officials are asking Vermonters to assess their own risk when deciding whether to take precautions against COVID-19, such as wearing a mask or physically distancing themselves from others.
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Some Vermonters are not convinced that it is the best move to abolish daily updates and are concerned that they will not be able to correctly determine their own risk.
“If public health agencies want to make public health a private matter, then they need to empower individuals with better data, unambiguous communication and much better access to the tools they need to protect themselves,” wrote Anne Sosin, a researcher in COVID-19 and rural health at Dartmouth College, in a tweet on May 10th.
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Why switch to weekly COVID-19 reports?
But Vermont’s health commissioner, Dr. Mark Levine, says that relying on daily COVID-19 case counts is no longer useful for assessing risk, as the widespread use of home testing has made the data less meaningful. The new report will include information on the state-wide level of risk, which Levine called one of the most important information for determining the level of personal risk.
“At this point in the pandemic, you really should not base your decision on daily fluctuations in case numbers,” Levine said during a news conference on the 17th.
He added: “This report presents the most valuable data we use to monitor COVID-19 in Vermont now and in the future. It shows trends in who comes to the emergency room with COVID-like disease, an important indicator of viral activity as case numbers do not are no longer reliable. “
The new weekly COVID-19 report for Vermont, which will be updated every Wednesday, can be found at healthvermont.gov/covid-19/current-activity.
For Vermonters who want as much information as possible to help assess their personal risk, the following resources can be helpful:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention County View: Classifies counties throughout the United States as having low, medium, or high transmission of COVID-19 based on seven-day metrics. Data lags a few days behind, but is updated daily. Visit covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view.
- Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center: Data is updated daily, but can run a few days backwards. Maps allow visitors to zoom in on specific counties. Visit coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map.
- Burlington Free Press data: The Johns Hopkins University data feeds the Free Press tracker: data.burlingtonfreepress.com/coronavirus-curve.
- Vermont Open Geodata Portal: Datasets from the state of Vermont are updated on a weekly basis on Wednesdays. Visit geodata.vermont.gov/pages/covid-19.
Contact Elizabeth Murray at 802-310-8585 or [email protected] Follow her on Twitter at @LizMurrayBFP.