INDIANAPOLIS — Each day, we're hearing about school districts with positive cases of COVID-19, but there isn't one central place where you can get to statewide COVID school data.
That will be changing, according to Indiana Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box. Wednesday, she announced plans for a central data source to be ready by mid to late-September.
"All of this data is coming together for us to build a public-facing dashboard that truly reflects the prevalence of COVID-19 in our schools," said Box. "We are making progress to get all of the data we need to make a dashboard. As of last week, we had between 20,000 and 30,000 students records. Yesterday, we received access to 500,000 records from the Indiana Department of Education, and more are expected in the future."
Box said schools will be expected to update COVID-19 cases every 24-hours. "Having this data will help better inform how our schools are impacted by COVID-19," she said.
Box said some of the school COVID-19 cases could be avoided if people would follow the state's recommendations. "We've had a number of cases recently where COVID was brought into the schools by people who participated in an outside activity, such as a party or a large gathering. This has resulted in more than 100 students being identified as close contacts in one case and led to quarantining of entire football teams or dozens of teachers in a school building," said the commissioner.
Box had a clear message: "The actions that you take outside of school are just as important as those you take inside the school building."
