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Looking for local COVID data? Soon the state Department of Public Health website will be your go-to

https://govstatus.egov.com/kycovid19

Starting August 1st, local Fayette County COVID-19 data will no longer be posted to the Fayette County Health Department’s website. But the message is not that the pandemic is in the rear-view.

While the health department has been tracking and posting information about COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths since the start of the pandemic, Kevin Hall with the health department says residents who want that information now will need to head to the state Department for Public Health website.

So why the change? Part of the answer has to do with shifting resources.

"This is consistent with health departments across Kentucky. As funding is no longer widely available, there are staff cuts at health departments, including ours. Those temporary workers that were provided through some of those federal funds are no longer there," Hall explains. "So we're needing to maximize the time of our staff. Instead of duplicating the efforts that are going into the state website, we'd rather have them be able to focus on things like tracking investigations in vulnerable populations."

And though that could make for some delays in getting that info out to the public, Hall notes some measures aren’t as useful as they used to be, most notably the raw case count. Many cases are now going unreported as people rely on at-home tests.

In addition to county level reports provided by the Public Health Department – think of those green, yellow, and red maps – the CDC also provides county-level data.

Josh James fell in love with college radio at Western Kentucky University's student station, New Rock 92 (now Revolution 91.7). After working as a DJ and program director, he knew he wanted to come home to Lexington and try his hand in public radio.