Penn's COVID-19 dashboard earned a B- rating from We Rate Covid Dashboards, scoring the lowest in the Ivy League and ranking No. 213 out of 323 colleges and universities.
We Rate Covid Dashboards was created by Yale University professors Howard Forman and Cary Gross to grade the accessibility of information on how schools are monitoring the spread of COVID-19. The professors gave each school a grade ranging from A++ to F using a point-based grading system.
Points are awarded at values of zero through three across a range of criteria including readability, update frequency, and data presentation, as well as the sharing of student versus staff cases, city/county data, testing frequency, result turnaround time, number of quarantined students, and a campus summary.
Scoring a B-, Penn received six out of 13 available points. The University scored three points for readability, two for data presentation, and one for sharing testing frequency. Penn earned zero points for sharing student versus staff cases, city/county data, result turnaround time, number of quarantined students, and a campus summary.
Harvard University ranked first in the Ivy League with an A rating, receiving 11 out of 13 points. Yale and Brown University followed closely at 10 points, both also receiving A grades. Cornell University came in fourth with nine, achieving an A- rating. With eight points, Dartmouth College and Columbia University both earned a B+. Princeton University received seven points, one more than Penn.
“I can’t even say the Ivy League schools, which we would think are more well resourced, that they’re definitely doing a lot better than everyone else,” We Rate Covid Dashboards team member Ayotomiwa Ojo told Inside Higher Ed.
In July, Penn had one of the highest COVID-19 case counts among U.S. institutions, and in August, the University decided that they would no longer be able to welcome most undergraduates to campus for the fall semester.
Despite the campus closure, students who received housing exemptions and students and staff members living off-campus in Philadelphia, still had access to COVID-19 testing through the University. Since Aug. 1, Penn has administered 58,195 COVID-19 tests, with 775 total positive tests, according to the University’s COVID-19 dashboard.
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