San Rafael, CA – It’s not just public health professionals who are interested in following the progress of Marin County’s efforts to flatten the curve of COVID-19. The public and media are interested as well. One of the best ways to track the local data is to bookmark a new webpage offered by Marin County Public Health.
The information on coronavirus.marinhhs.org/surveillance is broken down by demographics and geographic areas to promote understanding of the factors associated with COVID-19 transmission. Public Health is consistently refining its data collection, analysis, and sharing procedures as it becomes available.
“It’s been a big effort by our team, but providing this data to the public is one of the key successes of our COVID-19 response,” said Benita McLarin, Director of Marin Health and Human Services. “It is important for understanding the prevalence of the virus in our community and supports our goal to ensure transparency while also living up to the tenants of our Equity Strategic Plan.”
The website includes daily updates (posted by approximately 5 p.m.), cumulative case information, trends, and charts. No personal or identifiable data is included. Created primarily by Public Health epidemiologists Bethany Dominik and Haylea Hannah, the site is responsive for tablet and smartphone use and many of the charts are downloadable in spreadsheet form.
“I think people are going to be excited to see the numbers of people who are recovered over time because that’s the real illustration of the flattening of the curve,” Dominik said. “Lately there has been a lot of interest in the breakdown of cases by ethnicity. This site is also going to help researchers who are collecting statistics to track the trends. One person who contacted us was putting an app together and wanted the raw data. We’re glad to be able to share it.”
McLarin added, “We need to face this with our eyes wide open. The more we know, and the more we share that knowledge, the more informed we’ll all be as we tackle this together.”