Local group creates dashboard to track COVID-19 cases in Leon County Schools

ABC 27 | by Kara Bailey | September 23, 2020

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Community members have put together a coronavirus-tracking spreadsheet they say gives a clearer picture of the impact of COVID19 in schools than provided on the Leon County School’s dashboard.

LCS teacher Sarah Marquez and her peers have been keeping track of cases across the district since the start of school.

She points out that Leon County Board members say they’ve verified 43 cases with the Department of Health but have 46 student cases listed on their dashboard. Marquez says she doesn’t think the district means any ill will but takes issue with the discrepancies.

“If there are discrepancies in that data, then those need to be cleaned up, and I think that it’s important that the public get the full picture, not just a 14-day picture of what’s going on,” said Marquez.

The spreadsheet contains cumulative data from the dashboard since the start of the fall semester on Aug. 31.

Leon County Superintendent Rocky Hanna stands by the data provided on the district’s dashboard, and says claims of inaccuracy are “disingenuous.”

“There are no discrepancies and I’ll challenge anybody in the community,” Hanna said. “I have nothing to hide. We have nothing to hide. No reason to hide anything.”

Hanna says they’ve based their data and their decision to only list two weeks of cumulative cases on Health Department and CDC guidelines for quarantine.

Photo: Community members have put together a coronavirus-tracking spreadsheet they say may have more accurate data than provided on the Leon County Schools Dashboard.