The Virginia Department of Health is reinstating the Outbreaks by Selected Exposure Settings Dashboard in the VDH COVID-19 Data Insights dashboards.
The dashboard includes information on outbreaks that occurred in medical care facilities, residential or day programs licensed by VDH, Department of Social Services or Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, summer camps, K-12 schools, colleges and universities and long-term care facilities.
The dashboard is being reinstated because of the rapid increase in transmission of COVID-19 across the state spurred by the Delta variant. This has resulted in an increase in cases and outbreaks in congregate and communal settings.
The publicly posted data will include all outbreaks reported to VDH since Aug. 1, 2021, as these are the most relevant to implementing mitigation strategies and informing the public.
Dr. M. Norman Oliver, the State Health Commissioner, has granted an exception to resume reporting outbreaks by facility name. This authority comes from Section 32.1-41 of the Code of Virginia.
Reporting all outbreaks is important to inform our constituents of COVID-19 transmission in their localities to help them better protect themselves and their families. Outbreaks on this dashboard represent specific, identifiable outbreak events that were investigated by local health departments in collaboration with the facilities listed. The outbreaks are listed by locality, facility type and by public health investigation status. In addition, COVID-19 cases and deaths linked to one of these facility outbreaks will be listed. Outbreaks also are reported for residential or day programs, K-12 schools or summer camps that have at least 30 enrolled students or residents and staff.
This dashboard will be updated weekly to accommodate ongoing data collection, quality assurance and communications. Be aware that there are inherent delays in public reporting of real-time COVID-19 data and it may take time for each outbreak to be investigated and reported.
Some facilities may have more than one COVID-19 outbreak occurring at the same time in different settings or may have multiple COVID-19 outbreaks over the course of the pandemic. Due to confidentiality concerns, this dashboard reports outbreaks at the facility level, and not in a particular unit or subsection.
For more information on COVID-19 in Virginia, visit vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus. Anyone age 12 or older can find free vaccination clinics near them by visiting vaccinate.virginia.gov or calling 877-VAX-IN-VA (877-829-4682, TTY users call 7-1-1).
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Chris Graham
