You can now see COVID-19 cases in Weld County by zip code
By Kelly Ragan
Thanks to a new dashboard, we’ll now be able to see a more detailed depiction of where COVID-19 cases are in Weld County.
The Weld County Department of Health and Environment released the additional COVID-19 data Friday.
The data will continue to show the number of reported case counts by age and sex like it has been. But now we’ll have more information on date of death, reported positive cases by day and deaths by age and sex. A graph will also show the number of reported positive cases by zip code – something the health department initially didn’t offer.
The previous map showed which communities had cases, but was vague on details. See below.
Each dot represented 1-5+ positive COVID-19 cases, which meant cities in Weld could have had one case, or it could have had 300. There was no way to tell.
The new map offers more information.
Why the change?
County officials worried that detailed maps could violate patient privacy, especially in smaller Weld communities.
“We were concerned about privacy issues all the way around,” Weld County Commissioner Mike Freeman said in an interview. “If there were two cases in Grover, everyone would know who they were.”
But, Freeman said, he’d heard from many constituents who wanted more information.
So the Weld geographic information systems team figured out a way to make the data accessible without risking patient privacy, Freeman said.
By grouping the data by zip code rather than by town, patients’ privacy is protected while others have access to more information.
What the data shows
As of Friday, Weld had 971 total reported cases and 60 deaths.
The 80631 zip code as the most cases by far, followed by 80634, with 322 cases and 297 cases respectively.
By region, Greeley and Evans accounted for 738 of the overall cases. That makes sense, given Greeley’s large population.
“That’s also where the facilities are,” Freeman said. “Nursing homes and congregate care facilities are in Greeley, they’re not in Fort Lupton.”
Want to check out the numbers for yourself?
To see the new dashboard, go to: https://www.weldgov.com/departments/health_and_environment/2019_novel_coronavirus/covid19_data