Colleges around the country have come up with a COVID-19 dashboard so their communities can keep track of cases at universities.

The goal of the university’s dashboard is to provide the campus community with a weekly update with where we are with COVID-19 cases and tests.

The results are updated once a week on Fridays by the university’s Office of Planning, Research and Assessment with data from Human Resources and Dean of Student’s Office.

Right now, there are 188 total positive cases both on and off campus. 170 of those cases are students and 18 are employees.

The latest update was from Sept. 20 through the 26. That week, 29 students were tested positive and 2 employees.

Since Aug. 23, there have been 166 positive cases.

The highest week of cases at USI was the week of Sept. 6 through Sept. 12. That week, there were 56 reported cases. This was also the week of Labor Day.

The dashboard also gives information about quarantine. The latest update with that is for Sept. 20 through the 26. 55 people were quarantining. 34 of these reported quarantines were on campus.

The dashboard also shows 29 people were isolating that week.

A person who has tested positive for COVID with symptoms should isolate themselves for 10 days. A person must quarantine for 14 days when they have been in close contact with a person who tested positive for COVID.

The week of Labor Day was also the highest for quarantine cases and isolations. 53 people were isolating and 160 were quarantining. 

“My thoughts personally on the dashboard is that it is helpful for us knowing our positive cases on campus, but I have a concern that it may not be as accurate,” Takiana Johnson, a social work graduate student, said. “I think there are cases that aren’t being shared.”

Johnson went on to say she believes the schedule update is nice. 

“It gives them time through the week to gather the numbers,” she said.

Izabel Young, a freshman business administration manager, said she loves the dashboard.

“It makes my parents and I feel at ease looking to see how many cases per week we have,” Young said. “It makes us feel good knowing that our cases aren’t as bad as some of the other schools in Indiana.” 

The next dashboard update will be tomorrow by noon.