A new data system created by Texas Education Agency and Texas Health and Human Services now requires public Texas high schools to report any confirmed COVID-19 cases to the Texas Department of State Health Services. The DSHS will then make the data public for the community to see. 

“Data on the number of cases in schools is of paramount interest to parents, students, teachers, staff, public health experts, policymakers, and the larger community,” the DSHS said in a news release. “This information will be submitted to DSHS any time there is a positive case in a campus community.”

This system was instituted in hopes of better tracking and monitoring COVID-19 cases in Texas. 

“Having this knowledge and being able to publicly share the accumulated case totals from schools in a single place covering the entire state of Texas will help us to further support the health of all Texans,” the DSHS said in the news release.