  The design of data-driven dashboards that inform municipalities on ongoing
changes in infections within their community is addressed in this research.
Daily reports of Covid-19 infections published by the state of Wisconsin as the
initial surge in the pandemic ensued during the October 2020 to September 2021
time frame is considered as a case study. Of particular interest is the
identification of regions and population groups distinguished by race and
ethnicity that may be experiencing a disproportional rate of infections over
time. This study integrates the municipality-level daily positive cases that
are disaggregated by race and ethnicity and population size data derived from
the US Census Bureau. The goal is to present timely data-driven information in
a manner that is accessible to the general population, is relatable to the
constituents and promotes community engagement in managing and mitigating the
infections. A statistical metric referred to as the rank difference and its
persistence over time is used to capture the disproportional incidence of
Covid-19 positive cases on particular race and ethnic groups in relation to
their population size. A persistence index is derived to identify regions that
continually exhibit positive rank differences on a daily time scale and
indicate disparity in disease incidence. The analysis leads to the
identification that several municipalities in Wisconsin that are located in
regions of low population and away from the denser urban centers are those that
continue to exhibit disparity in the infection rates for Black/African American
and Hispanic/Latino population groups. Examples of a dashboard that can be
utilized to capture both aggregate level and temporal patterns of Covid-19
infections are presented.
