COVID-19 Dashboard Compiles Illness Data At Austin Nursing Homes

AUSTIN, TX — Austin Public Health on Monday released a new dashboard illustrating the impact of COVID-19 on long-term care facilities, which includes nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and intermediate care facilities with one or more cases.

The public can view the data on the COVID-19 Dashboards portal of the municipal website. The dashboard will be updated once per week on Fridays by 6 p.m., Austin Public Health officials said.

The Long-Term Care Facility Dashboard includes the total number of cases and deaths associated with long-term care facilities, graphs showing cases for staff and residents by symptom onset date, demographic breakdowns of staff and resident cases and the list of facility names with associated cases.

By clicking the name of a specific facility listed on the dashboard, cumulative case and death data will then display for that facility. Data are compiled in 14- and 28-day spans, with most of the facilities shown on the dashboard reporting single digits.

The greatest number of cases in the last 28 days was at the Austin State-Supported Living Center, with 24 as seen on the dashboard. In the last two weeks, the data show three cases were reported in the facility. The Brookdale Lakeway 2 nursing home facility also had more positive cases than mot other counterparts in the last 28 days, with seven recorded. The site had a pair of cases within the last two days. Another statistical standout was the Windsor at Duval nursing home, with six cases reported withing the last 28 days, as the dashboard shows. There was only one case within the last two-week period, the dashboard data show.

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Health district officials said that as of Sept. 14, there were 167 deaths and 1,558 cases associated with long-term care facilities, with 21 new cases in the last 14 days and 86 cases within the last 28 days. In combating the scourge, city officials have provided 8,283 total COVID-19 tests to long-term care facilities, 308 strike team deployment days and 215 orders of personal protective equipment.

Screenshot from the Austin Public Health dashboard.

All cases reported by Austin Public Health have been verified to have laboratory results and/or case report details that meet the Texas Department of State Health Services COVID-19 case definition, officials noted. Long-term care facility data reported by other state and federal agencies may not be verified to the same extent, causing discrepancies in case numbers between agencies, officials added.

"Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Austin has been balancing the privacy and safety of individuals with the desire to provide as much information to the community as possible in order to slow the spread of the virus," officials wrote in their advisory.

In terms of identifying the names of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities reporting cases, city officials said they consulted with the city's legal team. The aim is to present data for statistical purposes that follow state-established precedence for the release of information, officials said.

For more, visit the COVID-19 Information portal of the municipal website.