Governor Parson Announces Expansion of State COVID-19 Dashboards

SEPTEMBER 28, 2020

Jefferson City — Today, Governor Mike Parson announced that the state of Missouri has expanded its COVID-19 dashboards. The new dashboards, now located on the Show Me Strong website, provide Missourians with multiple charts, maps, and measures about COVID-19 and its impact in the state. 

“We are committed to giving Missourians the most accurate, up-to-date information as possible regarding COVID-19 in our state,” Governor Parson said. “With easy access to information through the dashboards, every citizen can contribute to our Show Me Strong Recovery Plan.”

Deliberate and data driven, Missouri's Show Me Strong Recovery Plan rests on four essential pillars – testing, PPE, hospital capacity, and data. The expanded dashboards build on the data pillar and will help citizens, community leaders, and businesses across the state make decisions regarding COVID-19 in their communities going forward. 

“Since the start of the COVID-19 challenge, we have been committed to communicating the best possible information to our citizens every day,” said Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Dr. Randall Williams. “These dashboards are the next step in our efforts to get better every day for our citizens.”

The state's cross-governmental COVID-19 Fusion Cell helped coordinate development of the dashboards, which include data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the Department of Economic Development, the Department of Social Services, and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, among others. 

Missouri also coordinated with other stakeholders across the state in creating the newest version of the dashboards.

“The tremendous collaboration across state government, and our partnership with Missouri healthcare providers and academic institutions, have helped Missouri develop these best-in-class dashboards,” MO HealthNet Director Todd Richardson said.

“Data are driving decisions for health care providers in communities throughout the state,” said Missouri Hospital Association Senior Vice President Dr. Leslie Porth. “The continuing evolution of our data tools allows all COVID-19 stakeholders to understand the status of the disease and respond accordingly.”

“Data and analytics play a critical role in informing policy actions at the local level. I am very excited to see the roll out of these new Missouri dashboards and look forward to using the data in our continued fight against COVID-19,” said Clay Goddard, Director of Health at the Springfield-Greene County Health Department.

Relying on Tableau, the state’s newly adopted data visualization tool, the dashboards are designed to be user-friendly for the public. The data can help individuals, employers, nonprofits, and schools better understand COVID-19 in their communities and make decisions accordingly.

Additional improvements for mobile viewing of the dashboards will come later this week. The state will continue to update the data and its communication as needed moving forward.