ORLANDO, Fla. – Leaders at the University of Central Florida plan to unveil an online dashboard that will provide updates on how many people associated with the campus community have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a news release from the school’s athletics department.
Details have not been released on when that new tool will be available or exactly what information it will provide.
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“The dashboard will be generic in nature, in accordance with medical and student privacy laws and public health best practices,” officials said in a news release.
Any case associated with the school will go through contact tracing and anyone who might have been exposed will be made aware so they can self-quarantine and get tested.
The news came hours after Dr. Raul Pino, the director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, said that 152 cases have been linked to one bar near UCF’s campus.
“To one of the bars around UCF, we were able, right now, and this is as of Friday that I was briefed on it, so it could be higher today, we have linked 152 cases to that specific location. If the reports in the newspaper are correct, that’s about 50% of the people that entered that bar, so a lot of transmission happened there. It’s a very close environment. They are normally small, people are very close, people were not wearing masks, and people are drinking, dancing, shouting, sweating, kissing, hugging, all of the things that happen in a bar, and all of those things are not good for COVID-19,” Pino said.
Pino previously said on Thursday that there were 152 cases linked to the zip codes with UCF student housing and the median age of UCF students with the virus is 21 years old.
Leaders in Seminole County have also said that bars near campus could be one of the reasons why the Oviedo area is considered a coronavirus hot spot.
The number of COVID-19 infections statewide since the pandemic began sits at 100,217. Of those, 5,157 have been in Orange County and 1,361 have been in Seminole County.
Despite the increase in cases, the school plans to begin reopening to students in fall. UCF’s plan for doing so will be discussed during a Board of Governors meeting on Tuesday.