COVID-19 Dashboards: Alachua County schools, UF launch case reporting sites

As the University Florida, Santa Fe College and Alachua County public and private schools tackle the new school year during a pandemic there are several ways parents, students and citizens can monitor the impact that the rise in activity and social interaction might have on the number of COVID-19 cases being reported.

Alachua County Public Schools

The Alachua County Public School district has launched a School Covid Reports site that shows the elementary, middle and high schools in the County with a tally of both students and staff cases. 

Jackie Johnson, public information officer for ACPS said the district’s School Covid Reports site will update cases for each school with the “understanding that this will include people who did not get COVID at school/work.”

“The Alachua County Health Department already gets the reports of any positive cases in the county,” Johnson said. “We will, of course, continue to communicate with them on a daily basis about positive cases and what steps we may need to take depending on the circumstances.”

The ACPS site can be found here.

According to the site, “the charts below provide a count of the number of active COVID-19 cases reported to Alachua County Public Schools. Active cases are defined as those reported within the previous two weeks, which is the incubation period for the virus. The chart labeled ‘District Totals’ is a running total of all cases since August 17, 2020, not just active cases.

“These numbers reflect all cases reported among students and staff at school and worksites who are attending school or working in person. Student cases are indicated in blue, staff cases in red.

“It is important to note that these numbers are NOT an indication that the cases were contracted or are in any way connected with the school or worksite.These figures will be updated on a daily basis.”

Statewide school results

Former FDOH data analyst Rebekah Jones, who said she was fired for not manipulating data, launched The COVID Monitor site to track COVID-19 cases reported in Florida schools.

According to the site, the data is collected from State agencies, news and media reports and by public reporting.

“The public depends on us to keep them informed, and we depend on communities to help us do that,” the site states. “By submitting information about cases through our safe and 100 percent anonymous form, parents, teachers and even students keep us and each other up-to-date with the latest information available. 

Go here to report cases, find where cases have already been reported, or download data.

UF COVID-19 Testing Dashboard

The University of Florida’s COVID-19 Testing Dashboard displays numbers that begin from the formal start of UF Health Screen, Test & Protect, which was May 6, 2020. 

Click here to see the data.

The site shows how many staff and faculty are tested without symptoms, number of positive cases and percent positive and does the same for students.

It also has data on students tested at the Student Health Care Center with or without symptoms.

There is a report on cases identified and followed among UF affiliates, contacts of UF affiliates identified and followed and how many of those are in isolation or quarantine.

FDOH reports

Another way to monitor data is through the Florida COVID-19 Dashboard. This site will show State totals, county totals and cases per zip code.