News

County health department is dropping Covid-19 updates

By Lightning Reports, Published: January 11, 2021

At a time when the surge in Covid-19 cases has increased the demand for information on the number of cases, tests and deaths, the Henderson County Health Department is dropping the weekly updates, the department's spokesman said Monday.

Responding to an inquiry from the Hendersonville Lightning, Andrew Mundhenk, the Health Department's communications manager, described the urgent work devoted to the current surge in cases and the planning and management of the county's Covid vaccination campaign as higher priorities.

"We are prioritizing Covid-19 vaccine distribution and overall response to the current surge in cases at the moment," he said in a text message responding to th Lightning's questions. "We are officially sunsetting the dashboard for the prior reasons explained. We’re shifting resources to the vaccination campaign but will make links available to NCDHHS data on our website."

"Case investigation, case management, contact tracing and now vaccine administration has reduced the capacity of HCDPH staff to support the Henderson County Dashboard," the department said in a news release released after the Lightning's questions about the website.

Much of the information on the Covid-19 website is also available on the dashboard maintained by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. The DHHS site on Monday showed 6,335 cases and 91 deaths in Henderson County.

The Department of Public Health, in partnership with the Henderson County Information Technology Department, has maintained the local dashboard since April 2020. 

This county dashboard showed an analysis of laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 by demographic, COVID-19 deaths, total COVID-19 tests and other data reported to the Health Department. The dashboard was developed since access to local data wasn’t easily accessible, robust or thorough at that time, the department said.

"Over the past several months, access to robust and thorough local data has increased through our partners at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services," the department said in the news release. "The Covid-19 North Carolina Dashboard shows an analysis, by county, of total laboratory confirmed cases by demographics and Covid-19 deaths. Additional information is also available on testing, hospitalizations, hospitalization demographics, PPE, and more."

To access the Covid-19 North Carolina Data Dashboard, visit https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard. This dashboard is updated daily by approximately 12 p.m. For information about Covid-19, reliable sources include HCDPH, NCDHHS, and the CDC. Visit HCDPH’s COVID-19 website at https://www.hendersoncountync.gov/health/page/public-health-advisory-coronavirus-covid-19 where additional links to state and national data can be found.