Why Lexington universities won’t have COVID data publicly available as classes resume
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As classes resume this fall, two Lexington universities are changing how they publicly report COVID data.
Both the University of Kentucky and Transylvania are moving away from a publicly-available COVID dashboard, and will look at CDC’s community reporting levels.
Last academic year, the UK dashboard was regularly updated with the number of COVID-19 infections, test results and vaccinations among the campus community.
“We are no longer publishing a dashboard at the institutional level, which is similar to what a number of institutions and entities are doing, such as Fayette County,” UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said. “We are moving from a status of responding to a pandemic to continual management of a transmissible virus, much like the flu and other public health issues that will require community support.”
This summer, the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department announced it would no longer post its COVID-19 data online. Instead, the health department moved to weekly updates.
Blanton said there were several reasons for this move at UK, including the availability of COVID data from the UK community.
“We don’t require either testing or vaccination as both can now be widely found in other places, so we don’t have one rigorous source of information for vaccine rates in our community,” Blanton said.
Fayette County is considered high risk for community COVID transmission as of Sept. 1, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That designation is based on the number of new COVID cases and COVID-related hospitalizations. In counties that have a high risk level, the CDC recommends wearing face masks in public settings.
Students and employees are still asked to report their vaccinations to UK, with incentives offered to those who get the COVID vaccine. Contract tracing is still provided through UK Health Corps, and the COVID operations and START teams, who help advise on COVID protocol for the university, are continuing to meet, Blanton said.
Masks are encouraged, but no longer required, at UK. The university is continuing to offer COVID vaccinations on campus at the Gatton Student Center. COVID testing has moved off-campus, and students are encouraged to get tested at locations in Lexington or use an at-home test if they show symptoms.
“We’ve been successful thus far because we’ve worked together as a community, and we’ve followed the recommendations and best practices that the science and health professionals provide,” Blanton said.
Transylvania University will also not keep a dashboard this year, spokesperson Megan Moloney said. The university updated its COVID guidelines in mid-August, and will now focus on community levels from the CDC. The campus community will be notified when those levels are at medium or high, according to the university’s COVID website.
Similarly to UK, masks are no longer required at Transylvania, but students and employees may choose to wear them “anywhere on campus at any time for any reason,” according to the COVID guidelines.
Eastern Kentucky University is moving away from using its public COVID dashboard as well, said Bryan Makinen, associate vice president for facilities management and safety. The dashboard could return, however, if another variant becomes widespread.
“Given the prevalence of COVID-19, and the institution of preventative measures such as vaccines, cases are being monitored in Student Health Services for those who are symptomatic,” Makinen said. “We will institute a variety of tools, including a dashboard, should a variant emerge that warrants close monitoring of community spread.”
Fayette County Public Schools is also moving away from regular COVID data updates, and will no longer send weekly COVID email updates, the school system said this summer.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with information from Eastern Kentucky University about its COVID-19 data.
This story was originally published September 6, 2022 at 6:00 AM.