Despite a statement that COVID-19 data would lag by only two days this semester, the data on UK’s dashboard is 16 days behind.

UK’s dashboard currently shows metrics as of Feb. 22, 2021, more than two weeks ago. 

In the fall semester, UK said the dashboard would be updated daily on a three-day lag, meaning that the dashboard would show cases first reported three days prior to that update. 

Now, the dashboard’s lag is more than fives times that lag window. UK’s COVID-19 currently shows the state of coronavirus two weeks ago with no data on present cases. 

UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said the delay was due to a technical issue with the data sorter that has been resolved.

“Now, it is a case of being behind and being stretched with staff doing a number of related issues,” Blanton said. “We’ve hired some staff to try to expedite getting caught up.”

Blanton said the daily and seven-day averages have been ‘pretty consistent.’

Two weeks is timeframe for students who have tested positive to be released from isolation, meaning that the data on active cases may be totally outdated.

And, the two-week lag means that there is no recent data on if case totals are increasing or decreasing.

The dashboard shows 118 active cases as of Feb. 22.

The weekly data DL posted on Fridays includes reminders for students to get tested but not summaries of the week.

“Moving forward, we will continue to update the data dashboard daily. Data will demonstrate a short lag, as it takes time for our team to clean, analyze and present test results,” says a data DL from Feb. 12.

UK increased the amount of testing done on campus this semester by requiring students to be tested once a month through a rotating system. Thousands of students should be tested weekly in an effort to detect cases early, but that detection has not shown up on the dashboard due to the lagging updates.