COVID-19 Data Dispatch Source List
This table includes all COVID-19 data sources featured in the COVID-19 Data Dispatch newsletter, starting with the first issue in July 2020. It's updated weekly when new issues are sent out.| Category | Name | Link | Week featured | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Census COVID-19 Demographic and Economic Resources | https://covid19.census.gov/ | 12/6/20 | My coworker Diana Shishkina recently alerted me to a Census page which compiles and visualizes a great deal of data on how COVID-19 has impacted Americans. It includes data from weekly small business surveys, the Household Pulse Survey, and a wealth of other information. |
| Census | Household Pulse Survey by the U.S. Census | https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/household-pulse-survey/data.html | 8/16/20 | From the end of April through the end of July, the U.S. Census ran a survey program to collect data on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the lives of American residents. The survey results include questions on education, employment, food security, health, and housing. I looked at the survey’s final release for a Stacker story; you can see a few statistics and charts from that story here: https://twitter.com/betsyladyzhets/status/1294393954327244812 11/8 update: The dataset was so widely used that the Census expanded it to a second round of surveys, from August through October. New data are being released in two-week intervals. |
| Charity/aid | Charity Navigator | https://www.charitynavigator.org/ | 8/30/20 | Charity Navigator is a database that compiles and evaluates charities based on their financial health and accountability. The database has detailed rankings and search capability, and when a crisis hits—such as the recent California wildfires or Hurricane Laura—they put together quick lists of organizations where any interested samaritans can help the cause. |
| Charity/aid | Mutual Aid Disaster Relief | https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/collective-care/ | 9/20/20 | This past spring saw an explosion of mutual aid groups across the country, as people helped their neighbors with food, medical supplies, and other needs in the absence of government-sponsored aid. These groups may no longer be in the spotlight, but as federal relief bills continue to stall, they still need support. Organizations like Mutual Aid Disaster Relief can help you find a mutual aid group in your area. |
| Demographic | Colors of COVID | https://thecolorsofcovid.com/ | 9/6/20 | This Canadian project relies on public surveys to collect data on how COVID-19 is impacting marginalized communities in the country. The project plans to release quarterly reports with these survey results. |
| Demographic | GenderSci Lab’s US Gender/Sex Covid-19 Data Tracker | https://www.genderscilab.org/gender-and-sex-in-covid19 | 9/13/20 | The GenderSci Lab, an interdisciplinary research project, is tracking COVID-19 by gender by compiling information from state reports. The tracker includes case counts, death counts, and mortality rates. |
| Demographic | The COVID Racial Data Tracker, by the COVID Tracking Project | https://covidtracking.com/race | 7/26/20 | COVID-19 is killing Black Americans at 2.5 times the rate of white Americans. The COVID Racial Data Tracker (or CRDT) keeps tabs on this disparity and others by collecting case and death counts, broken down by race and ethnicity, from state COVID dashboards. Our dataset is updated twice a week. And I say “our” because I work on this dataset; I’m happy to answer questions about it (betsyladyzhets@gmail.com). |
| Demographic | The COVID Tracking Project’s City Dataset | https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vRg-dB5Pjt-zN38BZNoCdOk_RJ_MyYFAl3QIkK5fKSddUy44DUgJwZuhjCz8KPMpiFKRwhoIwfs0NbZ/pubhtml | 11/15/20 | For about five months, COVID Tracking Project volunteers collected and standardized data from highly populated cities and counties across the country. The project started in late May with the intent of tracking COVID-19 in cities that were seeing large Black Lives Matter protests, then expanded following the Sunbelt surge in June. 65 cities and counties are included in the dataset; you can read more about the dataset’s methodology and major findings on the Project’s blog. https://covidtracking.com/blog/introducing-the-covid-tracking-project-city-dataset |
| Economy/funding | COVID-19 relief tracker | https://covidtracker.pogo.org/ | 12/6/20 | The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) has a new tracker which shows where COVID-19 relief funds from the federal government have been spent. The dashboard visualizes data from USAspending.gov, and is searchable by state, county, and ZIP code. |
| Economy/funding | Searchable database of federal COVID-19 purchases | https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus-contracts/ | 12/13/20 | Since March, ProPublica has tracked where federal government spending on the pandemic is going. The database represents $28 billion, 14,209 government contracts, and 6,832 individual vendors. Data can be sorted by spending categories, vendor types, and contract sizes. |
| Economy/funding | Searchable database of PPP data | https://searchppp.com/ | 12/13/20 | On December 1, the Small Business Administration released extensive data on loans issued through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), including specific loan amounts and company names. Accountable.US, a nonpartisan watchdog group, has made this information available in an easy-to-navigate database. You can search for a specific business or filter by different geographic regions and industries. |
| Healthcare system | Allocating Regeneron’s treatment | https://www.phe.gov/emergency/events/COVID19/investigation-MCM/cas_imd/Pages/allocation.aspx | 12/6/20 | On November 21, Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment received Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA. A new dataset from the HHS shows how this drug is being allocated to states and territories. For more information on the dataset, see HHS’s November 23 press release. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/11/23/hhs-allocates-regeneron-therapeutic-treat-patients-mild-moderate-covid-19.html |
| Healthcare system | America’s Health Rankings’ Senior Report | https://assets.americashealthrankings.org/app/uploads/ahr-senior-report_2019_final.pdf | 9/6/20 | America’s Health Rankings has conducted annual reviews of health metrics in every U.S. state since 1990. The organization’s most recent Senior Report is over 100 pages of data on older Americans, including rankings of the healthiest states for seniors. |
| Healthcare system | COVID Care Map | https://www.covidcaremap.org/ | 8/23/20 | Dave Luo, another COVID Tracking Project volunteer, also runs this volunteer effort to aggregate and clean public data on health care system capacity. The source has mapped capacity figures at the state, county, and individual facility levels, as well as other healthcare data from sources such as the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). |
| Healthcare system | COVID-19 Reported Patient Impact and Hospital Capacity by Facility | https://healthdata.gov/dataset/covid-19-reported-patient-impact-and-hospital-capacity-facility | 12/20/20 | On Monday, the HHS published a new hospitalization dataset including capacity, new admissions, and other COVID-19-related numbers—for over 4,000 individual facilities across America. This is, as I put it in a COVID Tracking Project blog post analyzing the dataset, a big deal. For more detail, see: https://coviddatadispatch.com/2020/12/13/covid-19-data-for-your-local-hospital/ |
| Healthcare system | COVIDcast | https://covidcast.cmu.edu/?sensor=doctor-visits-smoothed_adj_cli&level=county&date=20200909&signalType=value&encoding=color&mode=overview | 9/13/20 | This dashboard, by the Delphi Group at Carnegie Mellon University, features interactive maps for a variety of COVID-19 indicators, including movement trends, doctors’ visits , and even test positivity based on antigen tests. 1/24/21 update: I’m featuring the source again this week because recently, the Delphi Group collected survey data on vaccine acceptance. You can download the data and compare vaccine hesitancy across counties; read more about the release in MIT Technology Review. This dashboard, by the Delphi Group at Carnegie Mellon University, features interactive maps for a variety of COVID-19 indicators, including movement trends, doctors’ visits , and even test positivity based on antigen tests. https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/01/16/1016264/covid-vaccine-acceptance-us-county/ |
| Healthcare system | Federal allocation of remdesivir | https://www.phe.gov/emergency/events/COVID19/investigation-MCM/Pages/commercial-allocation-table.aspx | 8/23/20 | This public dataset from HHS shows how many cases of remdesivir, an antiviral drug which has become an important treatment option for COVID-19 patients, have been distributed to each state since early July. The dataset is cited in an NPR investigation which reports confusion and lack of transparency about how remdesivir distribution is decided. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/08/19/903946857/how-feds-decide-on-remdesivir-shipments-to-states-remains-mysterious |
| Healthcare system | HHS Protect Public Data Hub | https://protect-public.hhs.gov/ | 11/1/20 | For a few months now, the HHS Protect Public Data Hub has only hosted COVID-19 hospitalization data. But recently, the website expanded to include a section on national testing. Users can clearly see cumulative PCR testing numbers from the country, download the full dataset, and read documentation. This dataset has been publicly available on healthdata.gov since July, but through hosting it on the HHS Protect Public Data Hub, the agency has made it more easily accessible for Americans who are not data nerds like myself. |
| Healthcare system | Hospital facilities visualization by the COVID Tracking Project | https://covidtracking.com/data/hospital-facilities | 1/10/21 | Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released an extensive dataset showing how COVID-19 patients are impacting hospitals at the individual facility level. (See my Dec. 13 post for more information on this dataset.) The COVID Tracking Project has produced an interactive visualization from this dataset, allowing users to zoom in to individual facilities or search for hospitals in a particular city or ZIP code. I contributed some copy to this page. https://coviddatadispatch.com/2020/12/13/covid-19-data-for-your-local-hospital/ |
| Healthcare system | Therapeutics distribution (from HHS) | https://protect-public.hhs.gov/pages/therapeutics-distribution | 1/10/21 | The HHS is posting a list of locations that have received monoclonal antibody therapies, for the purpose of treating COVID-19. Bamlanivimab, one such therapy, received EUA from the FDA in early November. The HHS page notes that this is not a complete list: “Although monoclonal antibody therapeutic treatments have been shipped nationwide, shipment locations are displayed for those States that have opted to have their locations displayed on this public website.” |
| Healthcare system | Hospital discharge summaries (from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project) | https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/trendtables/summarytrendtables.jsp | 1/10/21 | This project, under the HHS umbrella, posts time series data on U.S. hospital patients. The site recently posted summaries on patients from April to June 2020, including datasets specific to COVID-19, flu, and other viral respiratory infections. As epidemiologist Jason Salemi explains in a summary Twitter thread, the data doesn’t provide new information but may be useful for a researcher looking to dig into spring and summer hospitalization trends. https://twitter.com/JasonSalemi/status/1346296905471442945 |
| Higher ed | College COVID-19 Outbreak Watchlist | https://public.tableau.com/profile/benjamin.renton#!/vizhome/CollegeCovid-19OutbreakWatchlist/CollegeCovid-19OutbreakWatchlist | 9/6/20 | Education reporter (and friend of this newsletter!) Benjy Renton has launched a dashboard keeping track of COVID-19 outbreaks on college and university campuses. The dashboard organizes outbreaks according to their alert level, based on new cases in the past week. |
| Higher ed | College/University COVID-19 Dashboards | https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQsCbJGsSWSGw_T44-OAkW0DBOWjLdpXBO2s5fINRGJWjAOzAAFhEo-0Y-H8fmrlAd7gOpg48q4zx0N/pubhtml | 8/30/20 | For this issue, I surveyed the COVID-19 dashboards of 50 higher education institutions across the country... The 50 dashboards I examined include public and private schools in 26 states. Rather than attempting to count the number of COVID-19 cases occurring at colleges and universities, I chose to focus on how schools are reporting: what COVID-19 metrics are they making public, and how often are these metrics updated? |
| Higher ed | COVID-19 Testing in US Colleges | https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10I8bVkLzvrmXJsb5N-8JSFpWw5vBwDKYzyOVAI4viKo/edit#gid=1514440859 | 8/23/20 | Sina Booeshaghi and Lior Pachter, two researchers from CalTech, put together a database documenting testing plans at over 500 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. The database is open for updates; anyone who would like to suggest an edit or contribute testing information on a new school can contact the researchers, whose emails are listed in the spreadsheet. Booeshaghi and Pachter wrote a paper on their findings, which is available in preprint form on medRxiv (it has not yet been reviewed by other scientists). https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.09.20171223v1 |
| Higher ed | NYT College and University COVID-19 counts | https://github.com/nytimes/covid-19-data/tree/master/colleges | 10/11/20 | The NYT is now releasing the data behind its counts of COVID-19 cases reported on college and university campuses, which the paper has been collecting in surveys since July. The survey includes over 1,700 colleges. This initial data release only includes cumulative data as of September 8—and it does not include denominators. NYT reports that the data will be updated “approximately every two weeks.” https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-college-cases-tracker.html |
| Higher ed | The Buffalo News’ trackers of COVID-19 cases in college athletics | https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16iV64rAhzjDeQIdyUiLe2rfkBefYZBLrt0quuCg8BHg/edit#gid=0 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11YytG28gK1zne6hPMiT2mXCXGzmXB68UnNQ6nZjlUBY/edit#gid=0 | 12/20/20 | CDD reader Rachel Lenzi, who covers college athletics for The Buffalo News, has kindly allowed me to share her spreadsheets compiling COVID-19 reports of COVID-19 cases in NCAA football and basketball programs. |
| Higher ed | The College Crisis Initiative | https://collegecrisis.shinyapps.io/dashboard/ | 8/23/20 | Davidson College’s College Crisis Initiative (or C2i) maps out fall 2020 plans for about 3,000 colleges and universities. Clicking on a college in the interactive map leads users to see a brief description of the school’s opening policy, along with a link to the school’s website. Corrections may be submitted via a Google form. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdBSH_8nkA-ApxWvwPtslP8rVV13IJXG7lMYaUWnqMplB1cWA/viewform |
| Higher ed | We Rate Covid Dashboards | https://www.ratecoviddashboard.com/ | 9/13/20 | Two weeks ago, I analyzed college and university COVID-19 dashboards for my newsletter. This project from public health experts at Yale and Harvard, meanwhile, goes much further: the researchers have developed a rating scheme based on available metrics, legibility, update schedules, and more, and rated over 100 dashboards so far. |
| Journalism | COVID-19 Cutback Tracker | https://www.cjr.org/widescreen/covid-cutback-tracker.php | 9/13/20 | Researchers at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University have tracked layoffs, furloughs, closures, and other cutbacks to journalistic outlets since March 2020. Findings from the project were released this past Wednesday in a new tracker. |
| Journalism | Journalism and the Pandemic Survey | https://www.icfj.org/our-work/journalism-and-pandemic-survey | 10/18/20 | The International Center for Jounalists and the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University are conducting a massive survey, mapping the impacts of COVID-19 on journalists around the world. The first report from this survey was released last week; you can read about its initial findings here. https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/10/journalists-are-struggling-with-mental-health-financial-hardship-and-disinformation-according-to-a-startling-and-disturbing-survey/ |
| Journalism | The CoronaVirusFacts Alliance Database | https://www.poynter.org/ifcn-covid-19-misinformation/ | 8/2/20 | Since the start of the pandemic, Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network has connected fact-checkers in over 70 countries working to correct COVID-19 misinformation. The results of these fact-checkers’ work are compiled in a database, which you can search by country, fact rating, and topic. |
| K-12 schools | COVID-19 in Wisconsin schools | https://projects.jsonline.com/topics/coronavirus/schools/coronavirus-in-wisconsin-schools-search-covid-19.html | 9/20/20 | Wisconsin journalists have stepped in to monitor COVID-19 outbreaks in schools, as the state has so far failed to report these data. A public dashboard available via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the USA Today Network allows users to see case counts and resulting quarantine and cleaning actions at K-12 schools across the state. Wisconsin residents can submit additional cases through a Google form. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfoCx7lx30YmDSqSZD1VvCOb7emv-Zoac65ux1-QfG7oIOF9w/viewform |
| K-12 schools | COVID-19 School Response Dashboard | https://statsiq.co1.qualtrics.com/public-dashboard/v0/dashboard/5f62eaee4451ae001535c839#/dashboard/5f62eaee4451ae001535c839?pageId=Page_1ac6a6bc-92b6-423e-9f7a-259a18648318 | 10/4/20 | Clearly, we need denominators for our case counts. And a new dataset is out to provide this crucial metric. Emily Oster, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Brown University, collaborated with software company Qualtrics and several national education associations to build a COVID-19 school dashboard which focuses on case rates, not counts. I emailed Oster for my 10/4 newsletter, so this issue includes detailed info on the dataset's methodology: https://coviddatadispatch.substack.com/p/school-data-with-denominators |
| K-12 schools | District Budget Decisions | https://edunomicslab.org/district-budget-decisions-labor-implications/ | 8/23/20 | Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University has compiled a database of choices school districts are making about how to change their budgets and hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic. The database includes 302 districts at the time I send this newsletter; district choices are categorized as budget trimming, salary reductions, benefits adjustment, furloughs, and layoffs. |
| K-12 schools | K-12 school closures, quarantines, and/or deaths | https://app.smartsheet.com/b/publish?EQBCT=00a2d3fbe4184e75b06f392fc66dca13 | 8/30/20 | Alisha Morris, a theater teacher in Kansas, started compiling news reports on instances of COVID-19 causing schools to stall or alter reopening plans. Morris’ project grew into a national spreadsheet with hundreds of COVID-19 school case reports spanning every U.S. state. The National Education Association now runs this dataset; concerned students, parents, and teachers can now explore the data and report cases on a NEA-run website. You can also explore the dataset through a Tableau dashboard created by one volunteer. https://public.tableau.com/profile/jon.w1876?fbclid=IwAR2cW3O_WiyP4QR8dyyaJ0M4RmxhWTTY_VbJYvr4KDqRhlhD0fmvhpYePfk#!/vizhome/COVID-19USSchools/Dashboard1 |
| K-12 schools | Leading in Crisis briefs | https://www.cpre.org/leading-crisis | 11/29/20 | A series of briefs from the Consortium for Policy Research in Education document how 120 principals in 19 states responded to COVID-19 in the spring. The briefs compile analyses, summaries, and recommendations on topics ranging from accountability during scool closures to calm during crisis. |
| K-12 schools | Missing in the Margins: Estimating the Scale of the COVID-19 Attendance Crisis | https://bellwethereducation.org/publication/missing-margins-estimating-scale-covid-19-attendance-crisis | 10/25/20 | This new report by Bellwether Education Partners provides estimates and analysis of the students who have been unable to participate in virtual learning during the pandemic. While the state-by-state estimates and city profiles may be useful to local reporters, the overall numbers should shock us all: three million students, now left behind. |
| K-12 schools | Reopening plans in America’s largest public school districts | https://usafacts.org/articles/how-are-children-going-back-school-americas-225-largest-public-school-districts/ | 9/6/20 | The nonprofit civic data initiative USAFacts has compiled a dataset of reopening plans in America’s 225 largest public school districts. The dataset classifies reopening plans as online, hybrid, in-person, or other, with information as of August 17. |
| K-12 schools | The COVID Monitor: COVID-19 Reporting in K-12 schools | https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/fb52d598982f41faac714b5ebe32e7d1?data_id=dataSource_5-USA_COVID_Websites_for_States%3A5 | 8/23/20 | FinMango, a global nonprofit which has pivoted to help COVID-19 researchers, has partnered with Florida COVID Action, a data project led by whistleblower Rebekah Jones, to track COVID-19 cases in K-12 schools. The project, called the COVID Monitor, has already been compiling reports from media and members of the public since July. It includes about 1,300 schools with confirmed or reported COVID-19 cases so far, 200 of which are in the project’s home state of Florida. |
| Legislation | COVID Border Accountability Project | https://covidborderaccountability.org/index.html | 12/20/20 | This interactive map documents travel and immigration bans that countries have introduced in response to COVID-19. It’s compiled by a team of academic researchers, engineers, and other non-academic volunteers, and updated weekly on Wednesdays. |
| Legislation | COVID-19 Global Travel Restrictions and Airline Information | https://data.humdata.org/dataset/covid-19-global-travel-restrictions-and-airline-information | 12/13/20 | The Humanitarian Data Exchange is an international repository run by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. One of the repository’s COVID-19 datasets displays travel restrictions and airline restrictions for nearly 300 jurisdictions, updated every day. |
| Legislation | COVID-19 State and County Policy Orders | https://healthdata.gov/dataset/covid-19-state-and-county-policy-orders | 11/15/20 | This dataset includes over 3,000 COVID-19-related policies at the state and county level addressing public health, local economies, and disparities during the pandemic. Data were compiled by students at the Boston University School of Public Health and other student volunteers, and the dataset is housed at the HHS. |
| Legislation | Open States COVID-19 Legislation | https://openstates.org/covid19/ | 10/4/20 | Open States, a public civic engagement project, is compiling a list of legislation related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. The database currently tracks over 3,000 bills in 46 states. |
| Legislation | The Pandemic and ICE Use of Detainers in FY 2020 | https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/627/ | 10/25/20 | The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (or TRAC) at Syracuse University has collected data on U.S. immigration since 2006. The project’s most recent report describes the pandemic’s impact on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s work to detain individuals as a step for apprehending and deporting them. |
| Mortality | Excess deaths associated with COVID-19 (international) | https://github.com/TheEconomist/covid-19-excess-deaths-tracker | 7/26/20 | The Economist compiles a similar dataset to the CDC, tracking excess deaths in countries and cities around the world. You can read about and see visualizations based on these data here: https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/07/15/tracking-covid-19-excess-deaths-across-countries |
| Mortality | Excess deaths associated with COVID-19 (U.S.) | https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm | 7/26/20 | One dataset which the CDC hasn’t stopped publishing is a tally of the death toll in the U.S., including deaths which may be directly or indirectly related to the pandemic but have not been reported due to insufficient testing. The dataset is updated weekly, and you can see figures broken down by state and different demographic factors. |
| Mortality | The Human Mortality Database | https://www.mortality.org/ | 10/11/20 | This database includes detailed population and mortality data for 41 countries. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team behind the database has started compiling weekly death counts, which can be used for excess death calculations; they have compiled counts for 34 countries so far. |
| Other | HHS celebrity tracker | https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000175-72c2-dc1a-a5f7-fae72f290000 | 11/1/20 | This week, POLITICO’s Dan Diamond released an HHS document called the “PSA Celebrity Tracker,” which health officials were using to determine which of America’s favorite people may be useful in an ad campaign encouraging the nation to be less negative about COVID-19. (Here’s more context from POLITICO on the tracker, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/29/coronavirus-ad-campaign-rebrand-433578) |
| Outbreaks | COVID-19 at the White House Contact Tracker | https://public.tableau.com/profile/peter.james.walker#!/vizhome/COVID-19attheWhiteHouse-ContactTracking/OverviewDash | 10/4/20 | This dashboard, called the COVID-19 At The White House Contact Tracker, is attempting to trace over 200 contacts in connection with the President and his staff. The team behind it includes Benjy Renton, independent reporter on COVID-19 in higher education, Peter Walker, data visualization lead at the COVID Tracking Project, and Jesse O’Shea, MD, infectious disease expert at Emory University. The Contact Tracker is an incredible public service. In its current form, the dashboard lists 235 White House contacts who should get tested for COVID-19, along with their positions, test results (if known), symptoms (if they test positive), and the date of their most recent test. You can also view the data as a timeline, based on each person’s last contact with the President, and as a map based on the Rose Garden ceremony, the debate, and two other potential spreading events. 10/25 update: The team behind a crowdsourced White House contact tracer is now tracking cases connected to Vice President Mike Pence. |
| Outbreaks | COVID-19 in Congress | https://www.govtrack.us/covid-19 | 11/29/20 | GovTrack.us. a project which normally documents bills and resolutions in the U.S. Congress, is currently tracking how COVID-19 has spread through the national legislature. The tracker currently includes 87 legislators who have entered quarantine, tested positive, or came into contact with someone who had been diagnosed with the disease. |
| Outbreaks | Mass Incarceration, COVID-19, and Community Spread | https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/covidspread.html | 12/20/20 | The nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative has published a new report showing how prisons impacted COVID-19 case rates in 2020. One major finding: rural counties with more incarcerated people per square mile had more COVID-19 cases, especially at higher percentiles. |
| Outbreaks | SARS-CoV-2 Superspreading Events | https://covid19settings.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html | 10/11/20 | Superspreading events, or instances in which many people are infected with the novel coronavirus at once, have been identified as a major force behind the spread of COVID-19. This database includes over 1,400 superspreading events from around the world, with information on each event’s timing, location, inside/outside setting, and more. |
| Public health | COVID-19 and Impacted Communities: A Media Communications Guide | https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e6fd0a65abcc54f238eae48/t/5fac65381cc5cc66221535bb/1605133628034/COVID19+Media+Communications+Guide+Final+(11.08).pdf?fbclid=IwAR1MPsXiFYypijD-piH_hD8arCmLz7EPRXGiWYeKsBP0O8jcbLFXGxDLegE | 11/22/20 | This is another communications tool, from the New York COVID-19 Working Group. The guide includes best practices for explaining key terms, advice on framing stories, how to streotypical narratives about minority communities, and more. |
| Public health | Eviction Lab | https://evictionlab.org/ | 11/1/20 | Researchers from Princeton University run this source by reviewing formal eviction records in 48 states and the District of Columbia. Although the source’s most recent state-level dataset is as of 2016, the group is also tracking COVID-19-related evictions in real time for a select group of cities. Houston, TX, at the top of the list, seen over 13,000 new eviction filings since March. https://evictionlab.org/eviction-tracking/ |
| Public health | Public health departments, underfunded and under threat | https://github.com/khnews/2020-underfunded-under-threat-data | 8/2/20 | This week, Kaiser Health News (KHN) data reporter Hannah Recht released the dataset behind KHN and The Associated Press’s recent feature on how local public health departments in the U.S. have been left unprepared to face COVID-19. The dataset includes six files examining spending and staffing at public health departments across the country. https://khn.org/news/us-public-health-system-underfunded-under-threat-faces-more-cuts-amid-covid-pandemic/ |
| Public health | The White House’s Red Zone Reports | https://publicintegrity.org/health/coronavirus-and-inequality/white-house-coronavirus-red-zone-reports-covid/ | 8/23/20 | Each week, the White House Coronavirus Task Force sends reports to U.S. governors about the state of the pandemic, including county-level data on cases and tests. The reports are not made public, but the Center for Public Integrity is collecting and releasing many of them. As of August 23, the Center’s document repository includes one report on all 50 states (from July 14) and 13 state-specific reports. 12/13 update: The Center has posted a new national (all 50 states) report: https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20420661-all_states_11_29_2020 |
| Risk assessment | COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool | https://covid19risk.biosci.gatech.edu/?fbclid=IwAR3SEtUitKm6LD3fU3tqsraNIPuiA8l_fmq_dMqOsmJIGwedcJtM1hJ9edI | 8/9/20 | If you’d like to see the likely infection rate in your area, check out the COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool developed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Applied Bioinformatics Laboratory. Select a state and an event size, and the tool will tell you how likely it is that someone sick with COVID-19 is at this event. For example, at a 50-person event in New York: 2.2% risk. At a 50-person event in Florida: 21.3% risk. |
| Risk assessment | COVID-19 Risk Levels Dashboard | https://globalepidemics.org/key-metrics-for-covid-suppression/ | 10/11/20 | A new map from the Harvard Global Health Institute and other public health institutions allows users to see the COVID-19 risk for every U.S. county. These risk levels are calculated based on daily cases per 100,000 population (7-day rolling average). 10/25 update: This dashboard by the Harvard Global Health Institute and other public health institutions now includes COVID-19 risk breakdowns at the congressional district level. Toggling back and forth between the county and congressional district options allows one to see that, when risk is calculated by county, a few regions of the U.S. are in the “green”; at the congressional district level, this is not true for a single area. |
| Risk assessment | MIT COVID-19 Indoor Safety Guidelines | https://indoor-covid-safety.herokuapp.com/ | 10/4/20 | Another air transmission resource allows users to calculate the risk levels for different indoor spaces, based on a model by MIT researchers Martin Bazant and John Bush. |
| Science of COVID-19 | Dear Pandemic | https://dearpandemic.org/ | 9/20/20 | This source describes itself as “a website where bona fide nerdy girls post real info on COVID-19.” It operates as a well-organized FAQ page on the science of COVID-19, run by an all-female team of researchers and clinicians. |
| Science of COVID-19 | FAQs on Protecting Yourself from COVID-19 Aerosol Transmission | https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fB5pysccOHvxphpTmCG_TGdytavMmc1cUumn8m0pwzo/preview?pru=AAABdRhBOUk*R0XLr1vCiGvAvCiNGQnBMA# | 10/4/20 | This pubic document was compiled by a group of scientists and engineers who study aerosol transmission. Answered questions range from “How long can the virus stay in the air indoors?” to “What is the best type of mask?” |
| Science of COVID-19 | NIOSH-Approved N-19 Respirators | https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/disp_part/N95list1-a.html | 9/6/20 | This CDC list includes thousands of surgical N-95 respirators approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH); it’s intended as a source for healthcare workers. As a recent article in Salon points out, the list includes over 600 valved models, despite recent guidances instructing the public to avoid valved masks. https://www.salon.com/2020/08/22/cdc-warned-the-public-against-wearing-valved-facemasks--while-recommending-them-to-health-workers/ |
| Science of COVID-19 | SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Data Hub | https://twitter.com/ErinSandersNP/status/1330360376010166275 | 11/22/20 | Erin Sanders, MSN, a nurse practitioner and contact tracer, has compiled a list of data on the novel coronavirus. The list includes clinical data, transmission data, and genomic data, among other medical and epidemiological topics. |
| Science of COVID-19 | Search trends on COVID-19 symptoms | https://blog.google/technology/health/using-symptoms-search-trends-inform-covid-19-research | 10/4/20 | Researchers can now access a Google Search dataset of search trends related to over 400 COVID-19 symptoms and related health conditions, such as fever, cough, and difficulty breathing. |
| Science of COVID-19 | 6-month consequences of COVID-19 in patients discharged from hospital (Huang et al., The Lancet) | https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2820%2932656-8/fulltext | 1/17/21 | I don’t usually feature scientific papers here, but this new study is important. It’s the biggest paper so far on COVID-19 long haulers, those patients who struggle with the disease for months after their diagnosis (or after not getting a diagnosis at all). This study followed about 1,700 patients over 6 months. |
| Science of COVID-19 | Global.health COVID-19 dataset | https://global.health/ | 1/17/21 | Global.health describes itself as a “global data repository and visualization platform that enables open access to real-time epidemiological anonymized line list data.” Its COVID-19 dataset—which promises information on 5 million anonymized cases—is not yet published, but is definitely a source to look out for. |
| Testing | CMS county-level testing dataset | https://data.cms.gov/stories/s/COVID-19-Nursing-Home-Data/bkwz-xpvg | 9/13/20 | In early September, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) started publishing test positivity rates for every U.S. county. The dataset is now updated weekly (I think) and includes total test numbers as well, accumulated over 14-day periods. I've covered this dataset extensively and visualize the data in Tableau: https://public.tableau.com/profile/betsy.ladyzhets#!/vizhome/COVID-19testpositivitybycounty_16006135390530/Countytestpositivityrates-CMScategories |
| Testing | COVID-19 Community Profile Reports | https://beta.healthdata.gov/National/COVID-19-Community-Profile-Report/gqxm-d9w9 | 12/20/20 | For months, public health advocates have called on the federal government to release in-depth data reports that are compiled internally by the White House Coronavirus Task Force. These reports include detailed information on cases, tests, and deaths at the state, county, and city levels. This past Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) began releasing all such national COVID-19 reports and the data behind them. For more detail, see: https://coviddatadispatch.com/2020/12/20/hhs-releases-long-awaited-national-profile-reports/ |
| Testing | COVID-19 Testing Communications Toolkit | https://www.covidtestingtoolkit.org/ | 11/22/20 | The Brown School of Public Health has compiled a resource to help public health communicators encourage COVID-19 testing. The toolkit includes evidence-based tutorials, handouts, and an image library, all of which are free for public use. |
| Testing | COVID-19 testing sites | https://public.tableau.com/profile/kai.hallberg#!/vizhome/COVIDHotSpotTestSiteMap/COVIDHotSpotTestSiteMap?publish=yes | 8/2/20 | The healthcare company Castlight has built a comprehensive database of COVID-19 testing sites in the U.S., down to the ZIP Code level. Castlight’s Tableau dashboard allows users to explore this database by county and compare the number of available test sites with current case counts. This dataset was cited in a recent 538 article on testing disparities. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/white-neighborhoods-have-more-access-to-covid-19-testing-sites/ |
| Testing | Daily testing needs | https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiNzM4ZTg2ZjQtZmY5Mi00ZjIzLWIxY2ItZTZjNGYyODllZGExIiwidCI6ImMxMzZlZWMwLWZlOTItNDVlMC1iZWFlLTQ2OTg0OTczZTIzMiIsImMiOjF9&utm_source=Dean%20Jha&utm_campaign=28ae5f7076-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_10_03_12_18_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e4fcd685bb-28ae5f7076-224476882 | 11/1/20 | A new tool from the Brown School of Public Health helps users calculate how many tests are needed for key essential groups, both for the nation overall and state-by-state. The tool is intended for public health leaders and policymakers who are starting to scale up as antigen tests become more widely available. For example, New York would need 37,300 tests a day to screen all college and university students. |
| Testing | FDA Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) | https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-emergency-use-authorizations-medical-devices/vitro-diagnostics-euas | 10/18/20 | The page lists every diagnostic, antibody, and management test which have been approved for COVID-19 patients. New tests are added every week. You can read about the distinction between an EUA and full approval here. https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/4/why-fdas-issuance-of-euas-are-not-approvals-and-wh |
| Vaccines | Bloomberg's COVID-19 Vaccination Tracker | https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/ | 12/20/20 | Bloomberg has counted 211,000 Pfizer doses in the U.S., as of December 19, by compiling numbers from state websites, press conferences, and interviews. |
| Vaccines | CDC COVID Data Tracker: Vaccinations | https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations | 12/27/20 | Mere hours after I published last week’s newsletter questioning when the federal government would release a national count of how many Americans had been vaccinated, the CDC began posting just that. The CDC COVID Data Tracker now includes both a count of how many vaccine doses have been distributed and a count of how many people have received their first dose. The count includes both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines, and incorporates reporting from states, local public health agencies, and federal entities including the Bureau of Prisons, Veterans Administration, and Indian Health Services. More detailed geographic and demographic data are not yet available from the CDC. |
| Vaccines | CDC list of state immunization registries | https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/iis/contacts-locate-records.html | 12/6/20 | The CDC has promised to set up a national dashboard similar to its flu registry, but until then, we must rely once again on state data. This CDC list of state immunization registries should be a useful starting point for any local reporters hoping to get a jump start on vaccine data. You’d better believe that I will be spending a lot of time with these registries in future issues. |
| Vaccines | COVID-19 Vaccine Advance Market Commitments | https://launchandscalefaster.org/COVID-19#Interactive%20tables%20and%20charts%20-%20COVID-19%20Vaccine%20Advance%20Market%20Commitments | 12/6/20 | For vaccine coverage outside the U.S., see this map of procurement data from the Launch & Scale Speedometer. This research group from the Duke Global Health Innovation Center has compiled the total vaccine doses purchased by over 30 nations. The dashboard also estimates the share of each nation’s population it could be able to cover with advanced vaccine purchases. Canada is highest on the scale at 601%; the nation’s extra doses will likely be donated to other countries. |
| Vaccines | COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation Dashboard | https://public.tableau.com/profile/benjamin.renton#!/vizhome/COVID-19VaccineAllocationDashboard/Dashboard1 | 12/6/20 | How many vaccine doses are actually going to each state? To answer this question, see the new COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation Dashboard from Benjy Renton. Renton is compiling information from local news sources on dose distributions from Pfizer and Moderna’s early shipments. Remember that both of these vaccines require two doses per person. |
| Vaccines | KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor | https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/report/kff-covid-19-vaccine-monitor-december-2020/ | 12/20/20 | This week, the Kaiser Family Foundation released its COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor, an ongoing project to track public perception of and experiences with vaccination. The latest survey from this monitor shows that 71% of Americans would “definitely or probably” get a vaccine for COVID-19 if it was determined to be safe and freely available. |
| Vaccines | Our World in Data: COVID-19 Vaccinations | https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations | 12/27/20 | As of December 26, the open-source data repository Our World in Data is compiling vaccination counts from 10 countries: the U.S., the U.K., China, Russia, Israel, Canada, Bahrain, Chile, Mexico, and Costa Rica. So far, the U.S. has administered the most doses at 1.9 million, while Bahrain has administered the most doses when adjusted for population, at 3 doses for every 100 people. |
| Vaccines | State COVID-19 Vaccine Data Dashboard Plans | https://airtable.com/shr0q2XPwuxzVQ4Eh/tblsQt56W99TG4ebp | 12/20/20 | According to ongoing analysis by the COVID Tracking Project, 15 states are reporting some form of vaccination data as of December 19. For links to all of these states’ dashboards and reports, see CTP’s annotations. |
| Vaccines | State COVID-19 vaccine plans | https://www.kff.org/report-section/states-are-getting-ready-to-distribute-covid-19-vaccines-what-do-their-plans-tell-us-so-far-state-plans/ | 11/22/20 | A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation explores how state public health departments are planning to distribute COVID-19 vaccines once they become available. The report includes common themes and concerns across all 50 state plans, as well as links to the plans themselves. https://www.kff.org/report-section/states-are-getting-ready-to-distribute-covid-19-vaccines-what-do-their-plans-tell-us-so-far-state-plans/ |
| Vaccines | Vaccine Allocation Planner for COVID-19 | https://covid19vaccineallocation.org/ | 12/6/20 | How many people are actually in those high-priority groups in each state? To answer that question, see the Vaccine Allocation Planner for COVID-19, a new data tool from the Surgo Foundation, Ariadne Labs, and other collaborators. For each state, the tool uses population estimates from the Census, the CDC, and other sources to show how many healthcare workers, first responders, teachers, people with severe health conditions, and other high-risk individuals will need to be vaccinated. The tool is automatically set to calculate each state’s available doses as a population-adjusted share of 10 million, but users can adjust it to see how different scenarios may play out. |
| Vaccines | The COVID-19 “Vaccination Line”: An Update on State Prioritization Plans | https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/the-covid-19-vaccination-line-an-update-on-state-prioritization-plans/ | 1/17/21 | The Kaiser Family Foundation has published an update on state vaccine prioritization plans, including both topline statistics and detailed annotations for each state. |
| Vaccines | COVID-19 Vaccine Communication Handbook | https://hackmd.io/@scibehC19vax/home | 1/17/21 | The COVID-19 Vaccine Communication Handbook is a new resource from communication initiative SciBeh aimed to help journalists, healthcare workers, and other communicators talk about COVID-19 vaccines and challenge misinformation. |
| Vaccines | Currently Reported COVID-19 Vaccine Metrics (by the COVID Tracking Project) | https://cvshealth.com/sites/default/files/cvs-health-covid-19-vaccination-data.pdf | 1/17/21 | Alice Goldfarb, Kara Schechtman, Charlotte Minsky, and other Project volunteers compiled detailed annotations on the vaccine metrics reported by each state. |
| Vaccines | CVS COVID-19 Vaccination Data | https://airtable.com/shralapyljNvZ48VS/tblBMblhXdMGuM2Ui | 1/17/21 | CVS has published a state-by-state dataset of long-term care facility vaccinations administered by this pharmacy chain. The COVID Tracking Project reports that Walgreens may release a similar dataset. |
| Vaccines | US COVID-19 Vaccination Tracking | http://www.vaccinetracking.us/ | 1/24/21 | This is a new vaccination dashboard focused on demographics, developed by researchers at Georgetown University’s Bansal Lab. The dashboard compiles data on vaccination by race, ethnicity, sex, and gender from state reporting. Users can also hover over counties to see what share of the county’s population has been vaccinated, based on county or state data. Here’s a Twitter thread from lead researcher Shweta Bansal on the dashboard’s methodology and findings so far. https://twitter.com/bansallab/status/1351292235367772165 |
| Vulnerable communities | CDC's Social Vulnerability Index | https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/svi/data_documentation_download.html | 11/29/20 | Social vulnerability, as the CDC defines it, measures a community’s ability to recover from events that are hazardous to human health. These events can include tornados, chemical spills, and—of course—pandemics. CDC researchers have calculated the social vulnerability of every Census tract in the U.S. based on 15 social, economic, and environmental factors such as poverty, lack of vehicle access, and crowded housing. |
| Vulnerable communities | COVID-19 Community Vulnerability Index | https://precisionforcovid.org/ccvi | 11/29/20 | In the vaccine section above, I discussed the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index, which charts populations that are more vulnerable to health disaster. The Surgo Foundation’s COVID-19 Community Vulnerability Index builds on the CDC’s research with additional, COVID-specific sets of metrics based on epidemiological and healthcare-related factors. |
| Vulnerable communities | COVID-19 in ICE detention centers | https://github.com/vera-institute/ice-detention-covid | 11/1/20 | Since March 24, researchers from the Vera Institute of Justice have been compiling data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on COVID-19 cases and testing in immigrant detention centers. The researchers note that ICE replaces previously reported numbers whenever its dataset is updated, making it difficult to track COVID-19 in these facilities over time. |
| Vulnerable communities | Lost on the frontline | https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2020/aug/11/lost-on-the-frontline-covid-19-coronavirus-us-healthcare-workers-deaths-database | 8/16/20 | This week, Kaiser Health News and The Guardian released an interactive database honoring American healthcare workers who have died during the COVID-19 pandemic. 167 workers are included in the database so far, and hundreds more are under investigation. Reading the names and stories of these workers is a small way to remember those we have lost. |
| Vulnerable communities | The Long-Term Care COVID Tracker, by the COVID Tracking Project | https://covidtracking.com/data/longtermcare | 8/16/20 | Residents of nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other long-term care facilities account for 43% of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. A new dataset from the COVID Tracking Project compiles these sobering numbers from state public health departments. As of September 6, the full dataset is out, including historical data going back to May 21 and extensive notes on how each state is reporting this crucial information |
| Vulnerable communities | COVID-19 survey of Medicare beneficiaries | https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-systems/mcbs-public-use-file/medicare-current-beneficiary-survey-fall-2020-covid-19-data-snapshot | 1/17/21 | This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published results of a survey of Medicare beneficiaries, focused on their experiences with COVID-19. The data include American seniors’ perceptions of vaccines, perceptions of COVID-19 safety, care experiences, and more. |
To access this list in a Google spreadsheet, make a copy of the document at this link.