The Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston, Florida, has a new public-facing dashboard that tracks case numbers of common respiratory viruses in Florida, bringing additional information to clinicians who may not be able to quickly find the data on the state’s website.
The Clinic’s dashboard is updated weekly and is currently tracking including influenza, SARS-CoV-2, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus, seasonal coronaviruses, human metapneumovirus, parainfluenza, rhinovirus/enterovirus, Bordetella pertussis, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae. It is modeled on a dashboard Cleveland Clinic launched for Northern Ohio in 2022.
The health system will continue to report virus activity to Florida and the CDC. But it wanted to give its affiliated clinicians and hospitals — largely in the southeastern section of the state — more granular and easily accessible data, said Carla McWilliams, MD, chief of infectious disease for the Cleveland Clinic Florida Market.
The dashboard “provides them with a very clear picture of what’s happening in their local communities,” McWilliams told Medscape Medical News. She said it’s helpful to the Clinic’s primary care and pediatric clinicians and its five emergency rooms.
Because it is public, it’s a resource that benefits “the community as a whole,” she said.
Currently, the Florida health department issues weekly reports (that lag about a week behind) for RSV and influenza. But finding data on SARS-CoV-2 requires a search of the state’s health charts. Someone would have to undertake the same search for pertussis. The state does not track cases of mycoplasma pneumoniae or human metapneumovirus.
The Cleveland Clinic Florida dashboard reports cases based on diagnostics submitted to its Florida labs from 11 affiliated hospitals, primary care and family medicine practices and an urgent care center.
In mid-April, the dashboard noted that Influenza A positivity had declined to 3.3% of samples from a peak of about 30% in January, while Influenza B, RSV (1.7%), and SARS-CoV-2 continued to be at low levels. Rhinovirus/Enterovirus was the predominant pathogen, followed by human metapneumovirus, parainfluenza, and endemic coronaviruses.
More Data Welcomed
Although the dashboard is currently limited to a small portion of Florida, it gives “a great snapshot of generally, what’s going on in certainly the southeast of the state, which in many ways will mirror much of what’s happening throughout the state,” said Jennifer Takagishi, MD, vice president of the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Takagishi told Medscape Medical News that it’s frustrating to try to access data about some viruses on the state health department’s website. “As a clinician, I only have so much time to look and look for information,” said Takagishi.
The data inform practice, she said. For instance, pediatricians plan on giving infants preventive monoclonal antibodies against RSV from October through March, typically the end of the season. But some states have recommended extending administration this year because viral levels are persisting.
Knowing whether that’s true in Florida “can make a difference in the clinical care that I give,” said Takagishi.
Similarly, knowing where influenza is peaking allows her to decide how likely a child with a fever might have the flu or a different viral infection. “That influences the care that I’m going to give the child,” including testing choices and whether there might be a need for hospitalization “because there’s an outbreak of something that they may or may not be vaccinated against,” she said.
The Cleveland Clinic dashboard could be used as a model for other big health systems to roll out their own data — “if they’re willing to enter the time and energy to do so,” said Takagishi.
Takagishi reported having no disclosures.
Alicia Ault is a Saint Petersburg, Florida-based freelance journalist whose work has appeared in many health and science publications, including Smithsonian.com. You can find her on X @aliciaault and on Bluesky @aliciaault.bsky.social.
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