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Development of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Facilities Status Dashboard for the COVID-19 Pandemic: Approach and Challenges.
Citation:
Baxter, L., J. Baynes, A. Weaver, A. Neale, T. Wade, M. Mehaffey, D. Lobdell, K. Widener, AND W. Cascio. Development of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Facilities Status Dashboard for the COVID-19 Pandemic: Approach and Challenges. International Journal of Public Health. Springer Basel AG, Basel, Switzerland, 61(1604761):9, (2022). https://doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2022.1604761
Impact/Purpose:
This paper describes the development of the EPA Facilities Status Dashboard. The Dashboard was designed to provide readily accessible information for EPA management and staff to view and understand the COVID-19 risk surrounding each facility. It has been adapted several times based on user feedback, availability of new data sources, and updated federal guidance. This paper describes the approach taken to develop the Dashboard, and discusses lessons learned.
Description:
The COVID-19 outbreaks brought widespread local and state stay-at-home orders and shutdowns across the country. Beginning in late March 2020, all United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) facilities were placed in a Federal Facility Business Continuity Plan or a Continuity of Operations Plan effectively mandating telework, closing facilities, and limiting facility access to essential personnel for critical operations. Since that time various guidelines have been released outlining a suite of criteria to use when evaluating the readiness of a location to reopen while mitigating the risk of exposure to COVID-19 to returning staff and maintaining the protection of vulnerable workers. Scientists at EPA’s Office of Research and Development, were asked to develop a method and communication tool for applying various re-opening guidelines to the EPA facilities located across the U.S. The EPA has facilities in more than 120 locations across 40 U.S. states, two U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), and the District of Columbia. EPA scientists rapidly developed methods and began construction of the EPA Facility Status Dashboard (henceforth, the Dashboard). The Dashboard is an easy-to-use web application that provides the results of statistical analysis in the form of maps and graphical displays. The Dashboard was designed to provide readily accessible information for EPA management and staff to view and understand the COVID-19 risk surrounding each facility. It has been adapted several times based on user feedback, availability of new data sources, and updated federal guidance. This paper describes the approach taken to develop the Dashboard, and discusses lessons learned.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Development of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Facilities Status Dashboard for the COVID-19 Pandemic: Approach and Challenges.