COVID-19 dashboard shifting to weekly updates after Saturday’s report

As we shared last week, an important change is coming to make our COVID-19 Data Dashboard even more useful. Saturday, Feb. 26, will be our last daily update to the dashboard. Weekly updates will start on Wednesday, March 2.

Updating weekly is consistent with other infectious disease reporting and how public health uses data to make decisions and recommendations. It also will provide a clearer view of COVID-19 trends by smoothing the variability in daily reporting by labs and other sources.

For example, the current default view showing COVID-19 hospitalizations by day …

… will show the data by week as of Wednesday, March 2:

We understand how valuable our COVID-19 Data Dashboard has been to Arizonans throughout the pandemic. Changing it has involved a great deal of thought and discussion about the best way to present this critical information going forward.

While all dashboard measures have fallen since the spike fueled by the Omicron variant, this change shouldn’t be taken as a sign that COVID-19 is on the way out. There is still a great deal of transmission throughout Arizona, and we continue to strongly recommend that everyone take steps to reduce the risk for themselves and others:

Get vaccinated. As of today, 5 million Arizonans 5 and older have received this safe, free, and highly effective protection.
Get your booster dose. Boosters are recommended for everyone ages 12 and older at least five months after the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines and at least two months after the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine.
Mask up and maintain physical distance in public indoor settings.
Stay home if you feel sick.
Get tested if you have symptoms of 5-7 days after exposure to someone who has or who you believe has COVID-19.
Keep your hands washed and follow other prevention steps detailed at azhealth.gov/COVID-19.

Please visit azhealth.gov/FindVaccine to locate a convenient provider of safe, free, and highly effective COVID-19 vaccines and booster doses. We list hundreds of testing providers at azhealth.gov/Testing.

By Jessica Rigler|2022-02-25T10:15:38-07:00February 25th, 2022|General|Comments Off

About the Author: Jessica Rigler

Jessica Rigler, an Arizona native, began her public health career more than 15 years ago, serving in varied roles with local, state, federal, and international public health agencies. Jessica has been with the Arizona Department of Health Services for over 12 years, supporting evaluation activities with the state immunization program, serving as the state’s first Healthcare Associated Infections Coordinator, and leading the Bureau of Epidemiology and Disease Control. She is currently an Assistant Director overseeing the Division of Public Health Preparedness at ADHS, which spans the areas of Epidemiology and Disease Control, Emergency Medical Services, Public Health Statistics, Public Health Emergency Preparedness and the Arizona State Public Health Laboratory. In recent years, Jessica has worked with the ADHS team to lead critical public health responses including opioids and COVID-19. Jessica holds Bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry and human development from the University of California, San Diego, and a Master’s degree in public health from Emory University. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist and certified in infection control.