WASHINGTON CO. JIC, OEM TO NO LONGER REPORT COVID-19 CASE DASHBOARDS
PUBLIC BEING DIRECTED TO DSHS COVID-19 REPORTING SITE FOR INFORMATION
The Washington County Joint Information Center (JIC) and Office of Emergency Management (OEM) have announced a major shift in how they will report, gather, and distribute COVID-19 information.
In a release this (Friday) morning, the two announced they will no longer be reporting the JIC dashboards of case count, active case count, hospitalizations, recoveries, and deaths. Constituents seeking information will be directed to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) COVID-19 reporting site.
The JIC Communications Team states this decision is being made for several reasons, but primarily due to the DSHS Public Health Region 7 Office’s inability to timely report accurate numbers to the county.
Currently, there are major discrepancies in the data reported by the county versus what is reported by the state. The county’s last COVID-19 update Wednesday reported 439 positive cases, 215 active cases, 190 recoveries, and 34 deaths. Meanwhile, the DSHS is reporting 435 positive cases, 112 active cases, 280 recoveries, and 34 deaths.
Both the JIC website and the case-tracking section of www.washingtoncountyems.net, which previously reported COVID-19 case updates, now direct users to the state COVID-19 dashboard for information.
The JIC says it and the OEM will continue to trend all of its local data, including the county’s hospitalization rate, population affected rate, burn rate of personal protective equipment (PPE), and other operational information. It believes tracking this information is important for verification, tactics, and even operations as it moves through different phases of the pandemic.
The JIC has not indicated whether this decision to discontinue reporting case dashboards will be temporary or permanent.