For those who have long been clamoring for additional details regarding how many people in Berrien County are being impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, your wish is being granted to some degree by the Berrien County Health Department in the form of new digital dashboard online.
Health Department officials this morning unveiled a new online-based Coronavirus Data Dashboard to centralize all data related to COVID-19 in Berrien County. That new dashboard can be found by clicking the link below:
https://berriencounty.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/6d5dbc6f036d4568b4d5668c6e4c287f
The new dashboard includes information regarding the confirmed and presumed cases of COVID-19 in Berrien County as well as information on those who have recovered from or died as a result of the virus. The data hub also includes an interactive map of COVID-19 cases by zip code, demographic breakdowns of cases, deaths, and recoveries and charts showing trends in cases over time.
Nicki Britten, Health Officer for the Berrien County Health Department, says, “This data dashboard is an excellent tool to share more information with our community about the cases of COVID-19 in Berrien County,” and adds, “This data shows us a great deal about the confirmed and presumed cases, but we know that it does not capture the greater numbers of residents who are infected and have not been identified.”
The map of Berrien County shown on the dashboard does not show how or where the virus is being transmitted, nor does it show where individuals were exposed to the disease. The data is indicative of community-wide spread of COVID-19, meaning there is a risk of viral transmission in all areas. Residents are asked to take precautions wherever they live, including staying home as much as possible and only leaving for essential trips. When venturing into public, residents are to maintain a social distance of six feet or more from others, wear a face covering in enclosed public places, and keep up with rigorous hand hygiene.
To date, Berrien County has 242 confirmed cases with a COVID-19 positive laboratory test result and has reported 15 deaths. Being reported are also the number of presumed cases, or those individuals experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 who have been identified through contact tracing and have an exposure history to other confirmed COVID-19 cases since tracking began in March 2020. There have been 171 people who have recovered from COVID-19, defined as individuals who had confirmed COVID-19 test results and have now been released from isolation after having 3 days of no fever (without a fever-reducing medication) and improvement in respiratory symptoms and it’s been at least 7 days since symptoms first appeared.
The data dashboard will continue to be updated daily with information gathered by the Berrien County Health Department and with partnership from Spectrum Health Lakeland. Anyone can access this internet-based dashboard at the link on www.bchdmi.org/COVID19.
