Montco's COVID-19 Dashboard Wins Statewide Award For Excellence

NORRISTOWN, PA — As the pandemic raged last year, state, county, and municipal levels of government scrambled to find the best way to keep their citizens up to date on coronavirus statistics and what was happening in their communities during an unprecedented time.

One of the key tools used by governments were interactive dashboards showing routinely updated numbers on new cases, hospitalizations, positive tests, recoveries, deaths, and more.

Now, Montgomery County's COVID-19 Hub and dashboards have been recognized with a statewide honor: the 2020 Geographic Information System (GIS) award in Excellence.

“Building trust with our communities by being transparent and delivering data-driven information about COVID-19 has always been a top priority from the beginning," Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh said in a statement. "I am proud that Montgomery County was able to lead the way in providing the most information about the pandemic in the region."

The county was recognized during a special ceremony at the 2021 Virtual PA GIS Conference.

Montgomery County GIS Manager David Long and GIS Analyst Jim Rebilas developed the hub. In addition to informing the public, it became an invaluable tool for county officials in planning their response and better understanding how the pandemic was progressing in certain segments of the economy and geographical locations.

The site has more than 8 million views, officials said, and continues to receive an average of about 10,000 hits per day.