Las Cruces Public Schools changed its COVID-19 dashboard again: Here's what's different
LAS CRUCES - The Las Cruces Public Schools COVID-19 tracking system has changed several times since the start of the pandemic, most recently switching to a database that breaks down cases by school.
But community members who frequent the sites may have noticed another shift in the numbers this past week.
On Friday, the case numbers for the past month have shifted from day to day, but the cumulative case count remained the same. Deputy Superintendent of Operations and Leadership Gabe Jacquez explained that it is a more accurate representation.
"When we change the system, it adjusted the numbers moving backward as well," Jacquez said, hence the sudden shift on Friday. "It just recalculated all those numbers. That's really what the discrepancy is on that … It's basically a spreadsheet with two columns — the day reported and then the day tested."
Jacquez said that the previous numbers were showing the date the cases were reported to the district, while this new data is based on the date the student or staff member gets tested.
Jacquez offered an example. If a student gets tested for COVID-19 on Monday and they are kept home until they get a positive result back on Wednesday, that student has already been quarantining for two days. The new system, which records the day the person is tested, is more accurate as far as how long they quarantine and how many active cases are currently at a particular school.
It also is a more accurate point to go off of for quarantines and isolations. If a person has tested positive within the past 90 days, they do not have to quarantine after a close contact.
"We're pulling the same data from the same spreadsheet," Jacquez said. "The practice is aligned to the (Public Education Department) toolkit and to safety, it's just those reporting numbers."
This is the process that the district will be using going forward, meaning case numbers for earlier days in the week can change later at later days.
In the past, cases for a particular date would only be added to the website the day of or the next morning at the latest.
To keep up with the latest district numbers, visit returnplan.lcps.net/covidnews.html and watch for https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/education/2022/01/20/las-cruces-school-board-split-over-covid-19-protocols/6579129001/weekly LCPS COVID-19 updates from the Sun-News.
Miranda Cyr, a Report for America corps member, can be reached at mcyr@lcsun-news.com or @mirandabcyr on Twitter. Show your support for the Report for America program at https://bit.ly/LCSNRFA.
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This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: LCPS changed its COVID dashboard again: Here's what's different
