UCLA updated its COVID-19 dashboard Thursday, after more than two weeks of delays in publishing time-sensitive test data.
The website – which tracks the UCLA community’s vaccination rates and confirmed cases on and off campus – only displayed data through Dec. 28 prior to Thursday’s update. The website was originally supposed to be updated daily, but a message posted on the website explained that the delay was caused by a large volume of tests administered around the start of the winter quarter.
However, individuals using the campus COVID-19 testing system had been receiving their results without significant delays and within the stated 24-48 hours. Administrators also provided up-to-date data to Breeze Velazquez, president of the Undergraduate Students Association Council. Velazquez shared a test positivity rate in a USAC meeting Jan. 11, before the dashboard’s update.
UCLA spokesperson Bill Kisliuk said in an emailed statement Friday that the dashboard’s information is usually updated every weekday at 5 p.m. However, the surge of positive cases due to the omicron variant has caused delays as the university processes the large number of COVID-19 tests, he added.
The dashboard now includes two new charts with an approximately three-day lag.
“To provide timely information about testing and positivity rates among the campus community, on Jan. 20 we added two charts showing recent tests and positive results by date for UCLA’s on-campus surveillance testing program,” Kisliuk said. “This data includes results from PCR tests made available to all members of the UCLA community, but not results from UCLA rapid-result antigen tests or any tests administered by external providers.”
Although the new charts do not include data from off-campus testing, they are still representative of the overall positivity rate on campus, according to the website.
UCLA will update the total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the UCLA community as contact tracers work through the recent surge in cases, Kisliuk said.
