Universities’ communication of COVID-19 cases through online dashboards

Abstract

Objective: This study’s purpose was to explore universities’ online dashboards that communicate information about COVID-19 cases to campus communities, and if dashboards adhere to American College Health Association (ACHA) recommendations. Methods: The websites of all four-year, public universities with an enrollment of at least 10,000 students were analyzed for the presence of COVID-19 dashboards, if dashboards contained recommended case features (eg, number of cases, tests, and people in quarantine/isolation), as well as other helpful features (eg, epidemiological curve, cluster information). Results: Of the 263 universities included in the study, 76% had a dashboard, but only 15% contained all recommended features. Most (62%) had an epidemiological curve, but few (3%) reported information related to clusters. Conclusion: Dashboards display case information and encourage behavior change; however, there is a need for improved adherence to the ACHA’s recommendations for COVID-19 dashboards to maximize their potential impact on campus communities.

Keywords:

• Communication
• COVID-19
• dashboards
• universities

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of USA and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Appalachian State University.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.