|
We're excited to announce the launch of a comprehensive online tool, the COVID-19 Regional Re-Opening Dashboard, for residents and area policy-makers to track the official public health metrics that will guide the re-opening of the Tampa Bay economy.
Here's what that means for you.
Our regional dashboard uses state gating criteria as the framework to monitor specific data points related to COVID-19 symptoms, testing, new cases and hospital capacity.
Because the dashboard provides trend lines that are updated as soon as new data is available, you can quickly see whether the threat of the virus is decreasing or rebounding, and use that information to make informed decisions regarding re-opening.
The dashboard aggregates the data for all eight counties in the greater Tampa Bay region, to reflect the natural patterns in which we work, live and play. The data may also be sorted by the gating criteria and viewed by Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) or county.
In most cases, Tampa Bay remains on track to meet re-opening guidelines, but the dashboard highlights a few key points worth our continued observation:
- Increases in the rate of positive testing in Hernando, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Sarasota counties have caused the region’s positive testing rate to stall near 2.65% since May 9, after a fairly steady decline from a high of 7.18% on April 18. Sarasota has the highest positive testing rate in the region at 4.19%. Pasco has the lowest at 0.90%.
- Tampa Bay’s average daily case rate (a 14-day rolling average) is higher now (88.79) than it was at its lowest point on May 1 (74.86), just prior to the Phase One re-opening.
- Tampa Bay’s hospital bed availability has decreased from a high of 43.44% on April 11 to 25.39% on May 19.
As we all know, the availability of accurate and accessible information is paramount right now, so we encourage you to review the data and ask the tough questions.
The future of our region depends on it.
|
