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Keeping track of COVID-19 data and trends

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Posted at 10:48 PM, Jul 16, 2020
and last updated 2020-07-16 23:32:14-04

INDIANAPOLIS — A closer look at the data that can tell you how Indiana is doing when it comes to the spread of COVID-19.

We've spoken with countless people over the last five months impacted by the coronavirus. From doctors and nurses to survivors and families grieving for their loved ones. Despite all these stories there are still some who want to do their own research to see if this virus is as serious as those in the medical community say it is. The best place to do that is the Regenstrief Institute's COVID-19 dashboard.

LEARN MORE | Regenstrief Institute's COVID-19 dashboard

"The reason we created it is because at the beginning of this pandemic, many people wanted to know information about where the virus was happening in this state and how many people were hospitalized," Dr. Brian Dixon said.

Through his work with Regenstrief and Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI, Dixon and his colleagues realized they had access to all sorts of information the public was asking about.

"Now let's look at age and race and sex because people want to know who's getting this virus," Dixon said.

The COVID-19 dashboard has a breakdown for every demographic Dixon just mentioned. You can see how many tests have been given in the state and of those how many were positive.

The testing done by each county and how those positive tests break down by race along with age and sex is updated every 24 hours.

"That's why we created the dashboard to take information that was coming in to the state and being able to rapidly make it available so people can track the disease," Dixon said.

Another useful tool on the dashboard shows trends in the state. People can track whether positive tests are increasing or decreasing, along with emergency department visits, people being admitted to the hospital and ICU and deaths.

Dixon said the data speaks for itself and he hopes Hoosiers decide to do something very simple — wear a mask — to help turn those trends around.

"The mask is there to protect you in case you have it from giving it to other people, but when both people are using the mask it can reduce the transmission to almost zero," Dixon said.