Starting Aug. 10, OHA will stop reporting recent cases, active outbreaks and resolved outbreaks in workplaces, childcare settings and K-12 schools (tables 3-9) in the COVID-19 Biweekly Outbreak Report. OHA will continue to report active and resolved outbreaks in long-term care facilities, senior living communities and congregate living settings (tables 1-2). These changes do not affect case and outbreak reporting to OHA. Monitoring outbreaks, especially in high-consequence settings, remains a priority for OHA. We will continue to work with local public health authorities to provide resources and support during outbreak responses, as appropriate. We are making the changes for several reasons. One reason is to align resources and staffing with the current stage of the pandemic and other public health needs. The biweekly outbreak reporting process is not fully automated and requires many hours of careful review to ensure accurate reporting. In addition, universal case investigation and contract tracing ended earlier this year, and OHA advised local public health authorities to focus data collection and response on outbreaks in high-consequence settings, rather than in all settings.
