Birmingham City Council receives update from JCDH detailing COVID-19 zip code data

During Tuesday’s meeting, the Birmingham City Council received an update from the Jefferson County Health Department detailing the number of COVID-19 cases broken down by zip code.

The JCDH now has a dashboard on their website that allows residents to view the number of cases by zip code. Council President William Parker has been advocating for this data as the City continues to ramp up testing and community support for those impacted by the virus.

“I am very grateful for the work that has been done by the Jefferson County Department of Health and all our medical partners,” Parker said. “This data will help us have a clear understanding of where the virus has spread in our community and will be crucial for the City’s effort to apply for additional federal funding for medically underserved communities that are being hit the hardest by this virus.”

Following the meeting, President Parker indicated that the zip code data will help drive the City’s decision making as it ramps up additional testing throughout Birmingham’s hardest hit communities.

According to Jefferson County Health Officer Dr. Mark Wilson, due to privacy restrictions based on population density, several zip codes were combined to be in compliance with their policy to not release data that could personally identify residents.

Councilor Steven Hoyt said he would like to use this data to continue to educate the public on the dangers still posed by the virus. “We know we need more testing in our communities. We know that,” Hoyt said on Tuesday. “But we also need to continue to educate the public about why they need to still be practicing the safety guidelines issued by the CDC. This crisis is not over and people need to understand that. Hopefully this data will help drive that point home.”

Here is a link to that COVID-19 zip code dashboard:

https://jcdh.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=5e342c7bd0d94b5c9fa0ba9683a6b411