Eau Claire Health Department Launches Disease Dashboard

The Eau Claire City-County Health Department has launched an online interactive dashboard to track the spread of communicable diseases.

The communicable disease tracking dashboard officially launched on Thursday, seeking to provide residents with weekly information on the spread of communicable diseases. Included in the dashboard are common diseases like Covid-19 and influenza, as well as less common diseases like Lyme Disease, West Nile Virus, and sexually transmitted infections.

Additionally, the dashboard will track the spread of diseases that are vaccine prevenatable, including mumps, chickenpox, and whooping cough. The move comes as state health officials warn of decreasing vaccination rates after seeing high numbers of respiratory viruses like RSV and the flu over the winter. The dashboard can only track diseases that are reportable to the health department, which are listed on the Eau Claire City-County Health Department wesbite.

Along with information on the number of communicable diseases that are being tracked in the area, the dashboard also contains resources on best practices for residents to protect themselves and others.

According to a press release, the dashboard is supported by a CDC Foundation initiative. Health officials are hoping it will assist in identifying disease trends so they can respond in the most effective way.

The dashboard is similar to a previously launched dashboard tracking opioid use in the region. Like the disease dashboard, officials use that information to gain a more nuanced understanding of how opioids are being used in the area. The opioid data dashboard also contains information and resources for residents.