Texas American Federation of Teachers launches online tool to track COVID-19
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- As the school year starts at districts across Texas, the Texas American Federation of Teachers launched an online tool to track COVID-19 cases.
"We've prioritized to make sure we have our system cover every public school in Texas," said AFT president Zeph Capo.
The teachers union started this after learning the state would only report district-wide data and not specific schools.
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The website will show cases on specific campuses and other facilities within a district. It also allows educators and parents to report cases.
"This is going to allow for direct interaction from, by, and with our teachers, our support staff, our employees, our parents and others," Capo said. "They will be able to interact directly with this and take some level of control."
Reported cases will be vetted and reviewed by AFT staff before it's posted to the site.
AFT national President Randy Weingarten joined in on a Zoom call Thursday to announce the launch of the website.
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"This tracking and tracing is a very important way of containing disease and preventing more diseases," said Weingarten.
The union is hopeful this tool will be helpful for not only educators, but for the communities these districts serve to be able to track the spread of COVID-19.
