North Dakota to end daily COVID-19 updates

BISMARCK, N.D. (KVRR) – The North Dakota Dept. of Health will stop providing daily COVID-19 updates beginning Friday, March 18.

The department will move to a weekly publication of data on its Coronavirus Dashboard and COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard. The dashboard will be simplified and will shift from a focus on daily case counts and positivity rates to a focus on trends over time and severity of the disease.

The Health Department has been publishing daily statistics since March, 2020.

“With vaccinations, antibody treatment, decreased hospitalizations, and the availability and use of at-home test kits, which are not reported to or verified by the state, we have decided to refine our dashboard to better reflect the spread of disease and the burden to our health care system in the state,” according to State Epidemiologist, Dr. Tracy Miller.

Most states have already adopted a weekly schedule to report COVID-19 cases and deaths, with only 10 states reporting daily.