CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Illinois Department of Public Health said it will begin providing information about COVID-19 cases in schools.
Two weeks ago, ProPublica Illinois and the Tribune reported on the lack of information available to school officials and parents as they try to decide whether in-person learning is safe. Illinois public health officials told reporters there had been outbreaks in at least 44 school buildings across the state, but declined to say where. According to IDPH, an outbreak is defined as two or more cases tied to contact at school.
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On Wednesday, IDPH announced that in the coming weeks it will be more transparent about which specific schools have COVID-19 cases, and how many staffers or students are infected.
“We have been working to publish school-level data on COVID-19 and look forward to having that live in the coming weeks,” IDPH spokeswoman Melaney Arnold told the Tribune.
According to the Tribune, many other states already publish data on outbreaks in schools, but so far Illinois has released only county-level data about COVID-19 cases in people younger than 20. That age range includes many college students, so it is not as helpful to parents and officials in K-12 school districts.
IDPH's announcement comes as the state is seeing another surge of COVID-19 cases in many communities. The increases lead some schools that had planned to reopen to delay in-person learning until at least early next year.