SLO County Rolls Out Redesigned Website to Track Respiratory Illnesses in the Community
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) – The San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department has created a newly redesigned website that tracks the number of respiratory virus cases in the community.
"(The website) contains three separate dashboards on it," said Roxanne Archer, San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department Epidemiologist. "One focuses on wastewater. One looks at test positivity, and then the last one looks at vaccination rates. All of those cover COVID, our seasonal influenza, and then all except for the vaccination dashboard also covers RSV, which is respiratory syncytial virus."
The new and improved website has been in operation since late November, but the county is just now spreading the word to the public.
"We know how important it is for community members to stay informed about respiratory
illness trends during the winter months," Dr. Penny Borenstein, San Luis Obispo County Health Officer said in a statement. "These new dashboard tools make it easier than ever for our community to see what’s happening locally and take the steps they need to stay healthy during respiratory virus
season."
According to the Public Health Department, some of the updates are new interactive charts that let viewers easily toggle between COVID-19, flu, and RSV data.
The county said the comparison allows users to see how different viruses are trending locally and make informed decisions about prevention measures, such as vaccination, testing, and masking when appropriate.
"We're really hoping that all of these dashboards can be used by our community members as well as our, community based organizations and physicians so that they can have a better sense of what diseases are circulating in their community at a given time," said Archer. "Say you live in Los Osos, so you can have a look at the Los Osos wastewater and see if COVID is increasing more in your area than in others. and it can help guide your decision making and keeping yourself and your community healthy."
To view the new redesigned San Luis Obispo County respiratory virus data dashboard, click here.
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