CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The city has created an online tool to help Chicagoans gain a better understanding of how COVID-19 is affecting individual communities.
Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago's public health director, said the city created an online COVID-19 dashboard that allows residents to get the latest information on the virus, either citywide or broken down by zip code.
Arwady said the dashboard provides updates on the key metrics the city uses to determine when COVID-19 restrictions can be lifted or eased.
"It will allow everybody in Chicago to look at coronavirus data by your zip code, race, ethnicity, age, gender; it's a new opportunity to be able to know even more in real-time what is happening with coronavirus exactly where you live," Arwady said.
She added it also sheds more light on how the virus has disproportionately affected communities of color.
She said the new data dashboard was prompted by the desire to make community-level data more accessible, particularly for African American and Latinx residents who have been most impacted by the outbreak.
It was developed in partnership with community groups, the Chicago Public Health Department's Office of Epidemiology and Slalom Consulting and with support from the Civic Consulting Alliance, and will be constantly updated so community organizations and residents are encouraged to continue to provide input.
“West Side United has always believed in transparency and accountability through access to data, and we have displayed health metrics on West Side communities on our web site for the past year,” said Director of Data and Evaluation at West Side United Eve Shapiro, which was part of the team working on the dashboard. “We are glad to further the expansion of access to data through the development of the Chicago COVID-19 Data Dashboard and believe that it will enable communities to learn more about how their neighborhoods and neighbors have been impacted by COVID-19.”
Carrie Steyer, General Manager of Slalom, said there is power in providing the public with accurate and direct access to data and insights.
“For Chicagoans, the dashboard helps each of us see how COVID-19 is impacting our communities and make more informed health decisions,” Steyer said. “The dashboard creates visibility around communities that have been disproportionately impacted. It provides timely public health data to help our city leaders make better-informed decisions in the areas of racial equity and public health. Slalom is proud to have brought this to life for our city and grateful to Civic Consulting Alliance for convening and coordinating the cross-sector leadership needed to get it done.”
Visit the dashboard online to view the daily data of information for your neighborhood, the citywide cases trends or to find testing sites.