14 | APRIL 9 • 2020 

O

akland County has 
released an online 
map of all local con-
firmed COVID-19 
cases, allowing residents to 
search by ZIP code. 

As of April 5, the coun-
ty had reported 3,074 
total confirmed cases of 
COVID-19, with hundreds 
new cases being confirmed 
by the day. The death toll sat 
at 165 as of Monday morn-
ing. 
“There is a balance 
between being transparent 
and getting as much infor-
mation out to the public as 
we can, and protecting peo-
ple’
s privacy and not alarm-
ing the public,” Oakland 
County Executive David 
Coulter told the Jewish 
News. “We have had a lot of 
internal discussions about 
what information is most 
helpful to the public, and 
doing the map by ZIP code 
proved to be the balance that 
we struck.” 
The map allows res-
idents to click on 
any ZIP code and view the 
population number of each 
city, the total number of 
cases and the percentage of 
individuals that test positive 
for the virus. Experts ask 
that people use caution when 
interpreting the data. 
“The caution is that if you 
are in a ZIP code that has a 
high number, you may feel 
more reason to be scared, 

but if you’
re in a ZIP code 
with a low number, you 
may let your guard down,” 
Coulter said. “Neither one 
of those is the case. It simply 
means that the person who 
tested positive resides in 
that ZIP code, and that does 
not mean that is where they 
got the virus.” 
Oakland County Health 
Department Director 
Kathy Forzley emphasizes 
that the map reflects where 
the testing is occurring, and 
over time, it will evolve as 
COVID-19 tests and test 
results become more readily 
available. 
“This map will be very 
useful for the public, but also 
useful for public health offi-
cials,” Forzley said. “We will 
utilize this every day, and we 
want to make sure that we 
understand what is happen-
ing in our local communities 
so we can work with our 
local officials, groups and 
faith-based organizations.” 
Forzley hopes this map 
helps people realize that 
COVID-19 is spreading 
widely through community 
transmission. 
“Without people really 
embracing the idea that we 
do have community-
wide transmission, peo-
ple begin to feel compla-
cent,” Forzley said. “Your 
community might not have a 
lot of confirmed cases on the 
map simply because there 

isn’
t testing in your area. 
This does not mean that 
your community is safer than 
others in Oakland County.” 
Coulter and 
Forzley hope this map will 
enable community lead-
ers seeing higher numbers to 
ask themselves, “What do we 
think is going on here?” and 
“Are we doing everything we 
can to keep ourselves and the 
other members of the com-
munity safe?”
 “This map can serve as 
a good, visual reminder for 
social distancing and other 
public health messages that 
we have been giving so peo-
ple in the community can 
double down and begin to 
ask themselves those ques-
tions in a more serious way,” 
Coulter said. 
To help slow the 
spread, Forzley and Coulter 
are urging Oakland County 
residents to abide by social 
distancing requirements, 
limit trips to grocery stores 
and utilize delivery services 
whenever possible. 

“People also need to 
not invite family members 
over to their home for cel-
ebrations because although 
we all need our families, we 
need to find another way 
to visit them by utilizing 
all the technology at our 
hands,” Forzley added. 
If residents of Oakland 
County have any questions 
or concerns, the coun-
ty’
s website has every piece 
of data collected on the 
spread of the virus, plus 
additional resources and 
guidelines. 
“We’
re at the point in the 
pandemic where we are still 
at an upward trajectory and 
everyone needs to take this 
very seriously,” Coulter said. 
“We might not have any new 
recommendations for you 
besides stay at home and 
practice good hygiene, but it 
is more important than ever 
and it is still the best way to 
stop this pandemic.” 

The map can be viewed at www.
oakgov.com/covid/casesbyzip.html. 

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

Oakland County creates interactive map 
of COVID-19.

Cases By ZIP Code

Jews in the D

Screenshot of Oakland County’
s virtual map

COURTESY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

