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Public school parents in Miami-Dade concerned over lag time on district’s COVID-19 dashboard

MIAMI – Does a parent have a right to know if there is a COVID-19 case in their child’s classroom?

That question carries even more weight when considering the narrow options now available to schools in Florida to mitigate against transmission.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools does have an online Covid dashboard, but there is a lag in data entry.

Local 10 News’ Christina Vazquez realized something seemed amiss when several of the positive cases she was aware of at her daughter’s school did not appear to be reflected on the dashboard.

MDCPS Parents group founder Amanda Prieto is another parent who stumbled upon a friction in the data, which is missing, she says, the timely posting of case numbers to reflect current conditions.

“I was concerned that parents and residents didn’t have an accurate picture of how many cases there were in the schools and whether it is spreading,” she said. “Parents were frequently saying we are getting calls from the school, there are cases in our school, I know there is a case in our classroom because I spoke with another parent, but yet the dashboard doesn’t reflect that, so there is a definitely lag.”

Take for example just one day: Nov. 23.

When checking the COVID-19 cases for that date (11/23) on Sunday Nov.30, the dashboard displayed just two student cases districtwide.

Monday morning, Dec. 1, checking the same Nov. 23 date, the dashboard showed eight student cases and three employees.

The district says the dashboard is not a real-time data tool and that the lag is part of a review process.

Self-reported employee positive cases are entered into the dashboard after they have been “thoroughly reviewed” by the district school health office, and student positive cases reported by parents or guardians are not “populated until FDOH (the Florida Department of Health) confirms the case.”

And while many parents do receive an automated call of a Covid positive case at school, Prieto says it is short on relevant and actionable details.

“It doesn’t tell you what grade level or what classroom, so sometimes it is difficult to know everything is up to date, and when your case is reflected on the dashboard,” Prieto said. “It’s more important than ever that parents have that information…as we are in a situation where the protocols in our schools don’t match the CDC guidelines right now for K-12 schools, so that is complicated for parents.”

Prieto penned a Miami Herald op-ed about her dashboard concerns in September.

In it, she stated that there appears to be, “a significant amount of missing data. While the data is not intended as a real-time measure of cases, the delay appears to be greater than last year. My daughter’s class had a positive case reported and students who met the criteria for exposure were quarantined. But a day before they were to return to school, that case still wasn’t reflected on the MDCPS dashboard.”

A district spokesperson tells Local 10 News that “The 2021-22 school year began with schools at full capacity during the peak of the third wave with the emergence of the highly contagious Delta variant,” adding that, “Direct comparisons between the two school years are not possible because of the differences in community transmission, increased school populations, and the Delta variant being the main driver of infections. Our District Health Office was quickly overwhelmed with cases, which required confirmation by the Health Department. As a result of increased cases and staffing shortages, a backlog of cases occurred. Additional staffing was provided by the Health Department and case backlog quickly dropped.”

Additional information Prieto said would be helpful to parents so they have the choice to take actions like testing and self-quarantine or voluntarily deciding to continue masking include knowing: “how many students are being quarantined and really how many cases are directly linked with in the schools?”

In her op-ed she states, “Parents need clear, timely, useful communication that accurately reflects current conditions in schools and interprets the direct impact of COVID on MDCPS students.”

MDCPS RECENT COVID NUMBERS

Week of November 15, 2021 - Students quarantined: 409, Employees quarantined: 15

Week of November 1, 2021 - Students quarantined: 684, Employees quarantined: 19

Week of October 4, 2021 - Students quarantined: 1,673, Employees quarantined: 38

CDC LINKS AND RESOURCES

CDC Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention in K-12 Schools: “Due to the circulating and highly contagious Delta variant, CDC recommends universal indoor masking by all students (age 2 and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.” https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/k-12-guidance.html

CDC: “Counties without school mask requirements experienced larger increases in pediatric COVID-19 case rates after the start of school compared with counties that had school mask requirements.” https://t.co/0nYRZwa9Oq

CDC: “Significant secondary transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection has occurred in school settings when prevention strategies are not implemented or are not followed.” https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/transmission_k_12_schools.html#schools-cov2-transmission

CDC ACIP November presentation about “Children and Transmission” to classmates, siblings, and their parents https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/slides-2021-11-2-3.html

ADDITIONAL INFO

MDCPS Covid dashboard: https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiNTQzNDljZWItNTgyNC00NjlkLTgxYTEtMDM0Nzc2OGFhZDM5IiwidCI6IjQ1NzhmNjhmLTg2Y2QtNGFmOS1iMzE3LTkzZTM4MjZjYTBmNSIsImMiOjF9

Infographic: reporting Covid cases MDCPS explainer: http://pdfs.dadeschools.net/reopening/Reporting%20Cases%20of%20Covid19_Flyer_EN.pdf

Broward County Public Schools’ Covid dashboard: https://www.browardschools.com/coviddashboard


About the Author
Christina Vazquez headshot

Christina returned to Local 10 in 2019 as a reporter after covering Hurricane Dorian for the station. She is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist and previously earned an Emmy Award while at WPLG for her investigative consumer protection segment "Call Christina."

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