Indiana virus dashboard lacks data from hundreds of schools

Dashboard shot from Thursday, October 8th, 2020 showing school COVID data. (Map/Data provided by the Indiana Department of Health)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Nearly two months after state officials said they would release a public dashboard to help track coronavirus cases among Indiana’s students and teachers, the online tool lacks data from more than 1,000 schools.

Unveiled last week, the new dashboard reflects the numbers of positive COVID-19 cases among those in a given school. But so far, 40% of schools in the state still have not submitted information to the database.

Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said during a news conference Wednesday that “technical issues” are part to blame for the lag in reporting. Health department officials are additionally working to remove duplicate data entries, which takes time, Box said.