AUSTIN (KXAN) — The City of Austin’s COVID-19 dashboard is being discontinued and archived, a little over four years after the virus was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
Austin Public Health (APH) in a memo notified city and Travis County leaders of the move to archive the dashboard, which followed a decision made in March by the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to remove laboratory-confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases as a reportable condition in Texas.
APH said it continues to monitor and respond to COVID-19 in Austin and Travis County, but it will be more like the way it tracks the flu and other respiratory illnesses.
“On March 8, 2024, DSHS removed COVID-19 from the list of Texas Notifiable Conditions. This change means that providers, hospitals, laboratories, and clinics are no longer required to report individual case reports of individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 to public health,” the memo stated. “As with all diseases, outbreaks and disease clusters are still required to be reported to public health – and this applies to COVID-19 outbreaks, particularly in congregate settings.”