Featured sources

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. Click on the left of an entry to see expanded details.

Category	Name	Link	Week featured	Description
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.
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	American Time Use Survey	https://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm	8/8/21	This is a new survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS asked Americans how they spent their time during the COVID-19 pandemic; the resulting data demonstrate trends in remote work, commuting, childcare, and more. See the links at the bottom of this press release for comprehensive stats.
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	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	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 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
Demographic	Poverty and Access to Internet, by County	https://www.ahrq.gov/sdoh/data-analytics/sdoh-tech-poverty.html	8/1/21	Internet access has been a major issue during the pandemic as workplaces and schools have gone remote. This newly-updated dataset from the HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality provides information on internet and cellular access in every U.S. county from 2014 to 2018.
Demographic	Racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 hospitalization	https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2785325	10/24/21	A new CDC study published this week in JAMA Open Network presents analysis of data from COVID-NET, the national agency’s surveillance system for COVID-19 hospitalizations. The study, like other research on this topic, found that non-white Americans were far more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 or die from the disease in the first year of the pandemic than their white neighbors. Supplemental tables for the study include breakdowns of COVID-19 hospitalizations by different demographic groups, by underlying medical conditions, and over time.
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.
Economy/funding	Yelp Data Reveals Pandemic’s Impact on Local Economies	https://www.yelpeconomicaverage.com/covid-19-anniversary.html	3/21/21	The public review site Yelp recently published results of an analysis tying listings on the site to trends in business openings and closings. It’s actually pretty interesting—almost 500,000 small businesses have actually opened in the past year, including about 76,000 restaurant and food businesses.
Economy/funding	Unemployment Insurance Data Explorer	https://tcf-ui-data.shinyapps.io/ui-data-explorer/	5/30/21	This tool from progressive think tank The Century Foundation allows users to explore, visualize, and download data on unemployment insurance distributed during the pandemic. The tool includes data broken out by state and goes back in time to 1971—valuable for historical analysis.
Economy/funding	Fiscal accountability for COVID-19 data	https://internationalbudget.org/covid/	6/13/21	The International Budget Partnership, a global nonprofit working to improve government budgets, has produced a report and interactive website analyzing accountability measures that international governments have—and have not—implemented as part of emergency COVID-19 responses. Notably, out of 120 countries surveyed, none have “substantive” accountability and only four have “adequate” accountability.
Economy/funding	The State of the Nation’s Housing, 2021	https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/files/Harvard_JCHS_State_Nations_Housing_2021.pdf	6/27/21	This comprehensive report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard provides data on home prices, rents, and other related metrics for the past year. The report shows that many households—especially those who are Black and Hispanic—are still behind on housing payments, and could benefit from continued assistance (such as the CDC eviction moratorium extended this week).
Economy/funding	COVID Stimulus Watch	https://covidstimuluswatch.org/	8/22/21	The policy resource center Good Jobs First has put together this extensive database of CARES Act funding recipients. You can search the database by federal agency, CARES Act program, business sector, company type, location, amount received, and whether the money has been refunded.
Economy/funding	Directory of federal government prime contractors	https://www.sba.gov/document/support-directory-federal-government-prime-contractors-subcontracting-plans	11/7/21	All businesses that contract with the federal government have until January 4, 2022 to ensure that all of their employees are vaccinated against COVID-19. This directory, from the U.S. Small Business Association, provides a comprehensive list of those contractors. You can see business names, what they do for the government, and more. (h/t Al Thompkins’ Covering COVID-19 newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/poynter/lcw57zifbp?e=02c963f952)
Economy/funding	State Alcohol-Related Laws During COVID-19	https://alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov/resource/covid-19/98	12/12/21	The Alcohol Policy Information System has compiled a database of alcohol-related state laws during the pandemic, including rules about drinking both inside and outside of bars and restaurants. The database allows you to see when a specific state allowed restaurants to open or close, restrictions for take-out only, shortened hours, and more. (H/t Data Is Plural.)
Economy/funding	State plans for utilizing COVID-19 relief funding	https://oese.ed.gov/offices/american-rescue-plan/american-rescue-plan-elementary-and-secondary-school-emergency-relief/stateplans/	3/6/22	The federal Office of Elementary and Secondary Education has posted every state’s plan for utilizing ESSER funding, a $13-billion fund set aside to help schools address the impact of COVID-19. Money can be utilized for academic assistance, improving ventilation in schools, testing, and more. State plans were due to the federal government last June, though some materials are still pending on the website.
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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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
Healthcare system	Pulse of the Purchaser 2021 Report	https://higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/NAHPC/3d988744-80e1-414b-8881-aa2c98621788/UploadedFiles/tQU7KFiSHKQTawzsmxyG_Pulse%20of%20the%20Purchaser%202021%20results%20FINAL.pdf	4/4/21	This new report from the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions examines how employer attitudes to healthcare have shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report presents results from a survey of 151 major employers, representing diverse industries and sizes; it includes attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines, telehealth, equity, and other healthcare topics.
Healthcare system	State COVID-19 Hospitalization Data Annotations, by the COVID Tracking Project	https://covidtracking.com/analysis-updates/releasing-our-annotations-on-state-hospitalizations-data	4/11/21	This week, the COVID Tracking Project released a snapshot of extensive research into how U.S. states are reporting their currently hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The research has informed comparisons between Project data and federal data which demonstrated the quality of the HHS hospitalization dataset. You can access these annotations, along with information on cases, tests, and deaths, at the Project’s Data Annotations page. https://covidtracking.com/about-data/data-annotations
Healthcare system	COVID-19 hospitalizations and ED visits by race/ethnicity (CDC MMWR)	https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7015e2.htm?s_cid=mm7015e2_w https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7015e3.htm?s_cid=mm7015e3_w	4/18/21	This week, the CDC published Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports on racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 hospitalizations and emergency department visits. The reports continue to hammer home this pandemic’s disproportionate impact on non-white Americans. In all major regions of the country, Hispanic/Latino COVID-19 patients were more likely to be hospitalized than those of other ethnicities; and in 13 states with ED visit data, Hispanic/Latino, Black, and Indigenous patients experienced the highest rates of hospital visits for the disease.
Healthcare system	Cases and deaths among healthcare workers (CDC)	https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#health-care-personnel	5/30/21	A new addition to the CDC COVID Data Tracker this week: a tab reporting cases and deaths in doctors, nurses, and other healthcare personnel. The CDC is reporting both totals and new cases/deaths by week, though the data here likely represent only a fraction of the true counts of healthcare workers infected during the pandemic. Notably, the total death toll is only about 1,600—less than half of the healthcare worker deaths reported by The Guardian and KHN’s “Lost on the Frontline” project.
Healthcare system	Rural hospital closures	https://www.shepscenter.unc.edu/programs-projects/rural-health/rural-hospital-closures/	6/20/21	The North Carolina Rural Health Research Program at the University of North Carolina tracks hospitals in rural areas that close or otherwise stop providing in-patient care. The database includes 181 hospitals that have closed between 2005 and 2021, available in both an interactive map and a downloadable Excel file.
Healthcare system	Health Security Net	https://www.healthsecuritynet.org/	6/20/21	This is a public repository including over 1,200 pandemic-related documents—research, hearings, government papers, and more—from the decades leading up to 2020, compiled by Georgetown’s Center for Global Health Science and Security. It’s built for scholars, journalists, and other researchers to analyze past and present responses to public health crises.
Healthcare system	Hospital challenges to public health reporting	https://www.healthit.gov/data/data-briefs/challenges-public-health-reporting-experienced-non-federal-acute-care-hospitals	9/19/21	A new report from the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology explores the challenges that non-government hospitals have faced in electronically exchanging information with public health agencies. One major finding: in both 2018 and 2019, half of all hospitals lacked the capacity for this data exchange. No wonder electronic reporting has been such a challenge during the pandemic.
Healthcare system	Moral injury among healthcare workers during COVID-19	https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2786544	11/28/21	There have been a lot of headlines recently about burnout among healthcare workers. This study, based on a survey of 1,300 healthcare workers and published this week in JAMA Network Open, provides some statistics to underlie the trend. See the supplemental materials for sample quotations from the survey respondents, demonstrating their feelings of fatigue, isolation, and betrayal.
Healthcare system	AARP analysis of nursing home data	https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/health/info-2021/nursing-home-covid-19-report-november.html	12/19/21	AARP researchers have analyzed and visualized data showing staff shortages in nursing homes, along with vaccination rates, PPE availability, and other related figures. According to AARP’s analysis, almost one-third of the 15,000 nursing homes in the U.S. “recently reported a shortage of nurses or aides,” as of mid-November. (H/t Al Tompkins’ COVID-19 newsletter.)
Healthcare system	COVID-19 Hospital Capacity Circuit Breaker Dashboard	https://covidcircuitbreaker.shinyapps.io/circuitbreaker/	1/8/22	This dashboard from emergency physician Dr. Jeremy Faust and colleagues shows which U.S. states and counties are operating at unsustainable levels, or are likely to get there in coming days. Faust further explains circuit breakers in this post: these are “short-term restrictions, regardless of vaccination status, designed to slow the spread of COVID-19” and help prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. Dashboard data come from the CDC, HHS, and Johns Hopkins University. 1/30/22 update: The dashboard has now been updated, with help from Kristen Panthagani, Benjy Renton, Bill Hanage, and others; this new version includes hospital capacity and related metrics over time for states and counties, estimates of open beds, ICU-specific data, and more.
Healthcare system	Disease severity among hospitalized patients (CDC)	https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#hospitalizations-severity	1/16/22	The CDC added a new page to its COVID-19 dashboard this week, providing data on the shares of COVID-19 patients in U.S. hospitals who require intensive care and ventilation, and who die while at the hospital. The data come from the CDC’s hospitalization surveillance network and other federal hospital sources.
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	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	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	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	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.
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	PreventCOVIDU study examines vaccine effectiveness in college students	https://preventcovidu.org/about-us/	3/28/21	At the White House COVID-19 briefing this Friday, Dr. Fauci described a new clinical trial that kicked off this past week. 12,000 college students, age 18-26, at 22 universities across the country, will be followed over the 5 months. Half of the students are receiving Moderna vaccine doses now, while the other half will serve as a control group (and get vaccinated later). All students will get tested daily—and, in a unique move for vaccine studies, about 25,000 of these students’ close contacts will also get tested daily. The study is designed to determine if the Moderna vaccine prevents coronavirus infection and transmission. See the list of participating universities at the link.
Higher ed	Colleges requiring COVID-19 vaccinations (Chronicle)	https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/live-coronavirus-updates/heres-a-list-of-colleges-that-will-require-students-to-be-vaccinated-against-covid-19?cid=gen_sign_in	5/2/21	A growing number of colleges and universities are aiming to protect their students, professors, and staff by requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for those coming to campus next fall. The Chronicle of Higher Education has identified 190 such institutions as of April 30, and is continually updating its list. (Note: You need to sign up with a free account to view the page.)
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.
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	News workers laid off and outlets closed during the pandemic	https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/more-than-6150-news-workers-laid-off.php	12/19/21	At least 6,154 workers at news organizations were laid off between March 2020 and August 2021, according to a new report from Columbia Journalism Review. And at least 100 organizations closed during this time, though 14 have since resumed operations to some extent. The report includes detailed data on these layoffs and organization closures.
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	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.
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	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	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	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	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	Burbio's K-12 School Opening Tracker	https://cai.burbio.com/school-opening-tracker/	2/28/21	Burbio, a digital platform for community events, is actively monitoring over 1,200 school districts to determine which schools are currently using virtual, in-person, and hybrid models. The sample size includes the 200 largest districts in the U.S. and other districts with a mix of sizes and geographies, in order to reflect local decision-making across the U.S. See more methodology details here. https://about.burbio.com/methodology/
K-12 schools	U.S. School Closure & Distance Learning Database	https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01087-8	3/21/21	Two researchers from the Columbia University Center on Poverty and Social Policy used anonymized cell phone data to compile a database tracking attendance changes at over 100,000 U.S. schools during the pandemic. Their results: school closures are more common in schools where more students have lower math scores, are students of color, have experienced homelessness, or are eligible for free/reduced price lunches. The data are publicly available here. https://osf.io/tpwqf/
K-12 schools	School Survey Dashboard from the Institute of Education Statistics	https://ies.ed.gov/schoolsurvey/	3/28/21	As part of the Biden Administration’s commitment to reopening K-12 schools across the country, the federal government is now collecting data on how students are receiving education—and releasing those data on a monthly basis. This dashboard draws from surveys of a nationally represented sample including 7,000 rural, suburban, and urban schools, focusing on fourth-graders and eighth-graders. We don’t have data on COVID-19 cases, tests, or enrollment numbers, and several major states are missing, but this is a good start! For more on these data, read Lauren Camera in U.S. News. https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-03-24/data-reveal-significant-racial-disparities-in-school-reopening
K-12 schools	School enrollment data from Big Local News	https://biglocalnews.org/#/	8/8/21	Stanford’s Big Local News program released a major dataset this week, allowing reporters to investigate the pandemic’s impact on school enrollment in their communities. The dataset includes enrollment data at the state, district, and school level for 33 states; it was compiled through a collaboration with OpenNews, the New York Times, and EdSource. To access the data, make an account on the Big Local News platform and search for “Stanford School Enrollment Project.” See this tutorial for more information on using the dataset. https://youtu.be/VMbYxMtB6bM
K-12 schools	Education Stabilization Fund	https://covid-relief-data.ed.gov/	8/15/21	The U.S. Department of Education has distributed a lot of money to school districts in the past year and a half—funding technology for remote learning, ventilation updates to buildings, COVID-19 tests, and more. This DOE database provides detailed records on which schools received funding and how much of the money has been spent.
K-12 schools	State Guidance on School Reopenings, CRPE	https://www.crpe.org/current-research/state-responses-covid-19	8/22/21	The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) is an education research organization focused on improving student outcomes. The organization has compiled and analyzed state guidance for school reopening in fall 2020, focusing on mask mandates and vaccination requirements. Read about their findings here. https://www.crpe.org/thelens/state-leaders-must-choose-accountability-over-complacency-reopening-plans
K-12 schools	Will Students Come Back?: July 2021 Parent Survey	https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1393-2.html	8/22/21	The RAND Corporation, a survey company, has a new report out this week displaying parent attitudes towards fall reopening. According to the survey, as of July 2021, 89% of U.S. parents are planning to send their kids back to school in person. This number is higher for white (94%) and Asian (88%) parents than Black (82%) and Hispanic (83%) parents.
K-12 schools	K-12 Education Polls	https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CzWlEZNrxu8nh8E1aSXYd1VDTWgnYTwtTRXQSr3ggPg/edit?usp=sharing	9/12/21	Staff at EdChoice, a nonprofit education research organization, are keeping track of polling on school reopening and various related safety strategies, such as vaccine and mask requirements. This spreadsheet includes over 300 polls going back to March 2020.
K-12 schools	The Overlooked, K-12 report	https://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/learning/meet-the-overlooked	9/12/21	Here’s another K-12 reopening source: a new report from the education-focused Walton Family Foundation characterizing families who felt dissatisfied by their education choices in fall 2020. The report includes estimates of students who changed schools, failed to enroll in formal schooling, or otherwise “are frustrated with their current schooling option and lack access to their preferred alternative(s).”
K-12 schools	COVID-19 K-12 School Testing Impact Estimator	https://covid-school-testing.mathematica.org/start	9/19/21	What COVID-19 testing strategy would make the most sense for your local K-12 school? This dashboard, by the Rockefeller Foundation and Mathematica (the data research organization), is designed to help stakeholders find out. Simply plug in the school’s characteristics and COVID-19 safety goals, and the dashboard will tell you how different testing strategies may measure up.
K-12 schools	COVID-19 School Data Hub	https://www.covidschooldatahub.com/	9/26/21	Emily Oster, one of the leading (and most controversial) researchers on COVID-19 cases in K-12 schools, has a new schools dashboard. The dashboard currently provides data from the 2020-2021 school year, including schools’ learning modes (in-person, hybrid, virtual) and case counts. Of course, data are only available for about half of states. You can read more about the dashboard in this Substack post from Oster: https://emilyoster.substack.com/p/special-edition-today-covid-19-school
K-12 schools	School District Operational Status	https://www.mchdata.com/covid19/schoolclosings	10/3/21	Research organization MCH Strategic Data has compiled detailed data on the operational status of school districts across the country—fully in-person, fully remote, or hybrid. The dashboard also includes information on school mask policies and summary data by state. (H/t Your Local Epidemiologist: https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/mask-requirements-in-school-work)
K-12 schools	State-level analysis of charter school trends	https://www.publiccharters.org/sites/default/files/documents/2021-09/napcs_voting_feet_rd6.pdf	10/3/21	The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools analyzed changes to school enrollment in every state during the 2020-2021 school year, focusing on drops in district public school enrollment and rises in charter school enrollment. Oklahoma had the highest charter school gain, with a whopping 78% enrollment increase.
K-12 schools	Impact of School Opening on SARS-CoV-2 Transmission	https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/school-opening-covid	10/31/21	A group of scientists (including school data expert Emily Oster) recently published a new paper in Nature examining how school reopening models—remote, hybrid, or in-person—contribute to community transmission. In most parts of the country, reopening model did not have a significant impact on transmission, they found; the South was an exception. The authors shared the data underlying their paper, with some information from Burbio and the CDC removed due to requirements from those organizations. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01563-8
K-12 schools	School Learning Modalities (HHS)	https://protect-public.hhs.gov/pages/learning-modalities	11/7/21	Is that… could it be… comprehensive K-12 school COVID-19 data from the federal government?! Indeed: after over a year of calling out the government’s lack of data on this crucial topic, I was delighted to see the Department of Health and Human Services add a new dashboard to its COVID-19 data hub this week. The dashboard, produced in a collaboration between the CDC and the Department of Education, provides weekly updates on the learning status of school districts: in-person, hybrid, or remote. As of November 6, the dashboard included data for about 89% of students in 62% of districts. Next up, can we get some school case data?
K-12 schools	Association of child masking with COVID-related childcare closures	https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2788457	2/6/22	A new paper published in JAMA Network Open this week provides additional evidence showing that mask requirements can help keep schools and childcare centers open. The paper found that childcare programs where children were masked were 14% less likely to close over the course of a year than programs without child masking. For more commentary on the paper, see Inside Medicine.
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.
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	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 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.
Long COVID	Post-COVID Care Centers	https://www.survivorcorps.com/pccc	5/2/21	Post-COVID Care Centers, or PCCCs, are clinics where long COVID patients can receive treatment. They’re staffed by a growing group of multidisciplinary doctors and medical researchers seeking to understand this prolonged condition. The long COVID advocacy network Survivor Corps has compiled this database of PCCCs by state; 17 out of 50 states don’t yet have any such centers.
Long COVID	Characterizing long COVID in an international cohort	https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(21)00299-6/fulltext	7/18/21	In another new paper, published this week in The Lancet, COVID-19 long-haulers from the Patient-Led Research Collaborative share the results of an international survey on long COVID-19. The findings indicate that the vast majority of long-haulers (over 90% of those surveyed) suffer from symptoms for at least 35 weeks.
Long COVID	Long COVID resources from ApresJ20	https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jy354stmCE30zYoE5Ou3lz0O1hZSbvuLfvxcUGoBroQ/edit?usp=sharing	11/21/21	ApresJ20, a Long COVID association based in France, has compiled this extensive document of over 1,000 scientific papers about the condition. Topics include defining Long COVID, characterizing symptoms, managing patient care, genetic associations, and more. For each paper, the document includes its title, authors, publish date, peer review status, and summary.
Long COVID	Long-term cardiovascular outcomes of COVID-19	https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01689-3	2/13/22	A new paper from researchers at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), published this week in Nature Medicine, sheds light on potential long-term COVID-19 impacts for the heart. The researchers used national health records databases from the VA to study over 150,000 COVID-19 patients—a much larger study size than most Long COVID research in the U.S. The paper found that, after their first month of infection, COVID-19 patients are at increased risk for a variety of cardiovascular issues, including heart inflammation and heart failure.
Long COVID	Body Politic’s Comprehensive Guide to Covering Long COVID	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_H4Yd-PeHGxv-FQXur63b-BJn7fIXb6y/view	8/22/21	Writer and long COVID advocate Fiona Lowenstein has written this guide to covering the prolonged condition. The guide includes long COVID’s history, key terms, finding experts, telling patient stories, and more. Lowenstein shares key insights from the guide in this Center for Health Journalism article. https://centerforhealthjournalism.org/resources/lessons/what-reporters-need-know-when-covering-long-covid
Long COVID	Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infections estimates and insights	https://pascdashboard.aapmr.org/	1/16/22	I recently learned about this dashboard from the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. It provides estimates of Long COVID cases in the U.S. based on case numbers from Johns Hopkins University and a model assuming that 30% of surviving COVID-19 cases will lead to long-term symptoms. The dashboard includes estimates of total Long COVID cases, cases over time, and cases by state.
Long COVID	Long COVID source list	https://longcovidsourcelist.notion.site/Long-COVID-source-list-68bd8a83ce2e455693337eac29cc95d5	1/16/22	Journalists covering Long COVID can use this public database, compiled by myself and Fiona Lowenstein, to find patients, scientists, and advocates who are interested in talking to reporters for their stories. The database was published in January, and is being updated on a rolling basis. Read more about the resource here: https://coviddatadispatch.com/2022/01/16/a-new-resource-for-journalists-covering-long-covid/
Long COVID	New GAO report on Long COVID	https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-105666	3/6/22	Between 8 and 23 million Americans may have developed Long COVID in the last two years—and an estimated one million are out of work because of this condition—according to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The report discusses medical and economic impacts of Long COVID, including current efforts by the federal government to study the condition.
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.
Mortality	CDC Provisional Mortality Data for 2020	https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7014e1.htm?s_cid=mm7014e1_w	4/4/21	This past Wednesday, the CDC released death counts for 2020. As we’ve discussed before, mortality data tend to be reported with a lag compared to other types of public health numbers due to the complex processes involved with tallying up death certificates. About 3.3 million deaths occurred overall in 2020, according to these new data; this was a 16% increase from 2019. COVID was the third leading cause of death that year, accounting for 345,000 lives lost.
Mortality	Excess deaths in the U.S. (Kieran Healy)	https://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2021/02/24/excess-deaths-february-update/	5/2/21	Kieran Healy, sociology professor at Duke University, recently updated his chart gallery on excess deaths in the U.S. during 2020, using CDC data. All states saw significantly higher death rates in 2020 compared to 2015-2019 (except for North Carolina, which has incomplete data due to reporting delays). New York City has the highest death rate by far at over 30%.
Mortality	Excess deaths by U.S. county	https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-COVID-19-Death-Counts-in-the-United-St/kn79-hsxy	5/23/21	Excess deaths, or those deaths that occur above a region’s past baseline, are a common metric for examining the true toll of COVID-19. In addition to reporting excess deaths by U.S. states and demographic categories, the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) also reports this information by county. A group of researchers (Stokes et al.) recently analyzed these county-level data and found that U.S. COVID-19 deaths may be underestimated by about 20%; their findings were published this week in PLOS Medicine. https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003571
Mortality	Excess mortality and COVID-19 deaths in 67 countries	https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2781968	7/18/21	Researchers from the University of Bologna (in Italy) analyzed the gaps between excess deaths and COVID-19 deaths in 67 countries, revealing the capacity of different national health systems to accurately identify COVID-19 cases. Their work was published this week in JAMA Network Open.
Mortality	COVID-19 Orphanhood Calculator	https://imperialcollegelondon.github.io/orphanhood_calculator	7/25/21	Researchers at Imperial College London built this dashboard to track one of the most dire consequences of the pandemic: children who lost their parents or primary caregivers to COVID-19. That group includes more than 1.5 million children worldwide, according to a recent study by the same researchers. The estimates are based on COVID-19 mortality data and fertility data. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01253-8/fulltext
Mortality	COVID-19 cases and deaths, urban vs. rural counties	https://rupri.public-health.uiowa.edu/publications/policybriefs/2020/COVID%20Longitudinal%20Data.pdf	10/3/21	A new report from the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis at the University of Iowa demonstrates the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 is now having on rural communities. The rate of COVID-19 deaths in rural areas is now twice what it is in urban areas. For context about and data visualizations sourcing this report, see this KHN article by Lauren Weber: https://khn.org/news/article/covid-death-rate-rural-america/
Mortality	COVID-19-Associated Orphanhood in the U.S.	https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2021/10/06/peds.2021-053760	10/10/21	Over 140,000 American children lost a parent or a caregiver during the pandemic, according to a new study from the CDC, Imperial College London, and other collaborators. This study follows another study from Imperial College London that took a global focus (which I featured in the July 25 issue); this new paper includes data broken out by state and by race and ethnicity. Black children were more than twice as likely to lose a parent or caregiver as white children, and Native American children were more than four times as likely.
Mortality	COVID-19, compared to other leading causes of death	https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/covid19-and-other-leading-causes-of-death-in-the-us/	10/24/21	COVID-19 was the number two cause of death in the U.S. in September 2021—after heart disease—according to this report from the Peterson Center on Healthcare and the Kaiser Family Foundation. The report compares COVID-19 to other top causes of death in the country, including data over time and by age group.
Mortality	COVID Collaborative: Hidden Pain report	https://www.covidcollaborative.us/initiatives/hidden-pain	12/12/21	The COVID Collaborative is a team of health, education, and economic experts aiming to develop recommendations for U.S. leaders. Their recent Hidden Pain report focuses on children who lost parents or caretakers to COVID-19—a group that, the report estimates, includes over 167,000 children across the country.
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)
Other	OpenSky COVID-19 Flight Dataset	https://zenodo.org/record/4419079#.YBbkSuhKhnI	1/31/21	Martin Strohmeier, a computer scientist at Oxford University, and other collaborators have compiled a dataset of flight data related to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a blog post published in late December, Strohmeier plans to update the dataset once a month. https://opensky-network.org/community/blog/item/6-opensky-covid-19-flight-dataset
Other	Documenting COVID-19	https://documentingcovid19.io/	3/7/21	This repository is one of several great resources brought to my attention during this past week’s NICAR conference. It’s a database of documents related to the pandemic, obtained through state open-records laws and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 246 records are available as of February 26.
Other	COVID-19 diverse sources	https://airtable.com/shrHzKsbzpL6nVjtU/tblCkKUyTtxqhVYZW	3/28/21	NPR journalists from the organization’s Source of the Week project have compiled this database of COVID-19 experts from diverse backgrounds. The database is divided into 13 major categories, including virology, disease origin, health policy, racial/ethnic health disparities, and more.
Other	Searching for COVID-19	https://searchingcovid19.com/	4/18/21	This interactive series of data visualizations allows users to explore top COVID-19-related Google search queries since January 20, 2020. The charts focus on “How to __” and “What is/are __” questions, such as, “how to make hand sanitizer?” You can also sort by country and U.S. state. The project is a collaboration between research and design firm Schema Design, Google News, and Axios.
Other	Johns Hopkins Pandemic Data Initiative	https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/pandemic-data-initiative	5/23/21	The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center is one of the most widely-cited sources of COVID-19 data, providing detailed and up-to-date information for both the U.S. and the world. But the resource center’s scientists “have struggled to work with COVID-19 data that is inconsistent, incomplete, and insufficient,” writes JHU data lead Beth Blauer in a blog post. A new section of the resource center will explore data inconsistencies and highlight possible solutions.
Other	Dr. Fauci’s emails	https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20793561-leopold-nih-foia-anthony-fauci-emails	6/6/21	This week, the federal government put out one of its most vital information releases of the pandemic thus far: a trove of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s emails. The emails, requested by journalists at BuzzFeed and the Washington Post via public records requests, cover hundreds of messages sent to or from the esteemed infectious disease expert in the early months of the pandemic. BuzzFeed has published about 3,200 emails in raw, unfiltered form.
Other	The COVID States Project	https://osf.io/dva5r/	10/24/21	In this polling project, researchers surveyed people in all 50 U.S. states to ask whether they approve of the president and of their governors. The survey is jointly run by researchers at Harvard, Northeastern, Northwestern, and Rutgers Universities. This latest report, released in October, includes executive approval data stratified by political party and vaccination status.
Other	Science Literacy Resource Guide	https://www.scienceliteracyfoundation.org/resource-guide/	12/19/21	The Science Literacy Foundation, a new nonprofit in the scicomm space, had compiled this database of science literacy-related resources. It includes resources specific to journalism, communication, education, policy, and research; the guide isn’t COVID-specific, but has a lot of utility for continued pandemic coverage. (Disclaimer: I’ve previously worked on a project for the Science Literacy Foundation, but was not involved with this guide.)
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	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.
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	GAO analysis of COVID-19 in nursing homes	https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-367	5/23/21	The Government Accountability Office, an organization that does research and audits on behalf of Congress, has a new report out this week on the devastating COVID-19 outbreaks that took place in nursing homes. The GAO researched about 13,000 facilities, using CDC data from May 2020 to January 2021. 94% of the nursing homes in the study faced at least one COVID-19 outbreak, with the majority of outbreaks (85%) lasting five weeks or more.
Outbreaks	Case and death underreporting in nursing homes	https://github.com/kshen71/covid_nh_underreporting	9/12/21	In a new paper published this week, researchers from Harvard University estimated that over 68,000 COVID-19 cases and over 16,000 deaths among U.S. nursing home residents have gone unreported in federal data. The researchers made their facility-level underreporting estimates available on GitHub, including nursing homes in 20 states that were utilized for the analysis.
Outbreaks	CDC Cruise Ship Color Status	https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/cruise-ship-color-status.html	1/8/22	Throughout the pandemic, cruise ships have been hotbeds for coronavirus spread. This is especially true right now, thanks to Omicron, and the CDC is investigating a number of outbreaks. The agency reports on all cruise ships that it’s monitoring for COVID-19, classifying them based on the number of cases reported among passengers and crew; as of January 7, the vast majority of ships have reported enough cases to meet the threshold for CDC investigation.
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
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	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	Covid Performance Index	https://interactives.lowyinstitute.org/features/covid-performance/	1/31/21	How do different countries rank in their management of the pandemic? This index, from think tank the Lowy Institute, attempts to answer that question by comparing infection rates, death rates, and testing for 98 countries with available data. New Zealand, Vietnam, and Taiwan are at the top of the list; the U.S. ranks #94.
Public health	The Accountability Project	https://publicaccountability.org/	2/28/21	A repository of public data run by the Investigative Reporting Workshop, the Accountability Project reached 1 billion records last week. The Project includes several COVID-19-related datasets, including a dataset of Paycheck Protection Program loans and data on hospitals and nursing homes. https://publicaccountability.org/dataset-search/#dataset=358 https://www.publicaccountability.org/datasets/home/#collection8
Public health	Federal COVID-19 Chart Gallery (Peter Walker)	https://public.tableau.com/views/FederalCOVID-19ChartGallery/0_Gallery?:language=en&:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link	4/4/21	Peter Walker, former data visualization co-lead for the COVID Tracking Project, has put together a new Tableau gallery using data from the CDC COVID Tracker and HHS Protect. The gallery includes many chart formats that CTP fans may recognize, such as national views, four-pane views, and regional comparisons. More charts are coming!
Public health	WHO COVID-19 Detailed Surveillance Data Dashboard	https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiYWRiZWVkNWUtNmM0Ni00MDAwLTljYWMtN2EwNTM3YjQzYmRmIiwidCI6ImY2MTBjMGI3LWJkMjQtNGIzOS04MTBiLTNkYzI4MGFmYjU5MCIsImMiOjh9	7/25/21	The World Health Organization has a new COVID-19 dashboard, and it's incredibly detailed. Here, you can find testing data, case fatality ratios, cases and deaths by age, healthcare worker data, and more for all WHO member nations.
Public health	Mirror, Mirror 2021 from the Commonwealth Fund	https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2021/aug/mirror-mirror-2021-reflecting-poorly	8/8/21	The Commonwealth Fund, a philanthropy foundation supporting healthcare research, published this new report comparing the U.S. healthcare system to those of ten other high-income nations. The report found, unsurprisingly, that the U.S. “ranks last overall, despite spending far more of its gross domestic product on health care.”
Public health	Case acceleration by state	https://www.statnews.com/2021/09/06/visualizing-fast-the-pandemic-is-getting-better-or-worse-state-by-state/	9/12/21	In July, STAT News data project manager J. Emory Parker introduced a new metric for visualizing the pandemic: case acceleration, or how fast cases are increasing (or decreasing). Now, you can view state-by-state case acceleration numbers in real-time on STAT’s website. The dashboard is updated daily with data from the CDC, Johns Hopkins, and Our World in Data.
Public health	COVID Behaviors Dashboard from Johns Hopkins	https://covidbehaviors.org/	9/19/21	John Hopkins University maintains one of the oldest and best-known COVID-19 dashboards of the pandemic. The team recently expanded its data offerings with a new dashboard focused on pandemic attitudes and practices around the world. This dashboard draws from surveys conducted in over 100 countries, in collaboration with the WHO; read more about it here: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/johns-hopkins-center-for-communication-programs-launches-comprehensive-global-covid-behavior-dashboard
Public health	Influenza Encyclopedia, 1918-1919	https://www.influenzaarchive.org/	9/26/21	The U.S. has now reported more deaths from COVID-19 than it did from the Spanish flu. If you’d like to dig more into that past pandemic, you can find statistics, historical documents, photographs, and more from 50 U.S. cities at this online encyclopedia, produced by the University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine.
Public health	Mask Diplomacy in Latin America During the COVID-19 Pandemic	https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/EIAXSE	10/17/21	This dataset, compiled by political scientists Diego Telias and Francisco Urdinez, includes over 500 donations of COVID-19 supplies—face masks, respirators, tests, and more. The data underlie a preprint posted online in August 2020 discussing China’s diplomacy in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Public health	Directory of Local Health Departments	https://www.naccho.org/membership/lhd-directory	11/14/21	The National Association of County and City Health Officials maintains this database of all local public health departments in the U.S. You can navigate to health department lists for specific states by clicking on the map, or explore a 180-page PDF that includes the name, website link, and contact information (in some cases) for every single department: https://www.naccho.org/uploads/downloadable-resources/Local-Health-Department-COVID-19-Directory.pdf
Public health	State approaches to contact tracing	https://www.nashp.org/state-approaches-to-contact-tracing-covid-19/	12/5/21	This report from the National Academy for State Health Policy, updated on December 2, explores how every U.S. state is approaching contact tracing for COVID-19 cases. The report includes state partnerships with research institutions, adjustments for case surges, workforce sizes and training, digital contact tracing apps, and more. (H/t Al Tompkins’ COVID-19 newsletter.)
Public health	Global Health Security Index (2021)	https://www.ghsindex.org/	12/12/21	Back in fall 2019, a group of public health and national security researchers put out an index that ranked 195 countries around the world on their capacity to respond to future health threats. The U.S. was ranked number one—a ranking that soon became laughable as the country proved to be incredibly unprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, the organization released their 2021 update to that index… and the U.S. is, somehow, still number one. Yet despite this, the researchers say, “no country is fully prepared for future pandemic or epidemic threats.”
Public health	Recommendations to transform public health data in the U.S.	https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2021/10/charting-a-course-for-an-equity-centered-data-system.html	12/19/21	The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a health philanthropy organization, has convened a commission of experts to reimagine how public health data are collected, shared, and used in the U.S. The commission put together this report, which includes recommendations ranging from data literacy to racial equity.
Public health	POLITICO’s State Pandemic Scorecard	https://www.politico.com/interactives/2021/covid-by-the-numbers-how-each-state-fared-on-our-pandemic-scorecard/	12/26/21	And another evaluation of how states fared, but much broader: POLITICO reporters compiled data about state outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic, including health, economy, social well-being, and education. For each category, states are scored between zero and 100. “No state did well in every policy area,” the report finds; for example, some states that imposed more COVID-19 restrictions fared better on health but worse on economy and education.
Public health	Biobot’s Nationwide Wastewater Monitoring Network	https://biobot.io/data/	1/30/22	If you’re looking to monitor COVID-19 levels in U.S. wastewater, Biobot’s dashboard is a great source. The wastewater epidemiology company collects samples from water treatment facilities across the country; their dashboard includes both estimates of coronavirus levels in the U.S. overall and estimates for specific counties in which data are collected. The data are available for download on Github. (H/t Data Is Plural.)
Public health	CDC wastewater surveillance dashboard	https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#wastewater-surveillance	2/6/22	In the week of 2/6/22, the CDC added wastewater tracking to its COVID-19 data dashboard. Wastewater has been an important COVID-tracking tool throughout the pandemic, but it has gained more public interest in recent months as Omicron’s rapid spread showed the utility of such an early warning system. While the CDC’s new wastewater tracker offers a decent picture of national COVID-19 trends, it’s basically useless for local data in the majority of states. For more details, see: https://coviddatadispatch.com/2022/02/06/the-cdc-is-finally-publishing-wastewater-data-but-only-ten-states-are-well-represented/
Public health	COVID-19 drug order and inventory info	https://rrelyea.github.io/evusheld/	2/20/22	Rob Relyea has produced three interactive maps that show state-by-state availability for COVID-19 drugs: one for Sotrovimab, the one widely used monoclonal antibody treatment (out of three available in the U.S.) that is still effective against Omicron; one for Paxlovid, the highly effective Pfizer pill; and one for Evusheld, a monoclonal antibody drug that works preemptively for COVID-19, reducing COVID-19 risk for immunocompromised people. Click on a state to see drug provider locations and drug supplies.
Public health	Report on pandemic-related workplace violence for public health officials	https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306649	3/27/22	A new study, published last week in the American Journal of Public Health, shares the results of a survey that included hundreds of public health officials across the U.S. During the study’s time frame (March 2020 to January 2021), the researchers identified about 1,500 instances of harassment against public health officials, and found that over 200 officials left their jobs. And public health has only become more polarized in the year since this survey period ended. See this article in STAT News for more context on the study.
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	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.
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	RTI COVID-19 Data Insights Tool	https://www.rti.org/insights/covid-19-immunity-tracking	4/25/21	This new data tool from RTI International provides county-level COVID-19 insights. The tool uses publicly available case data from Johns Hopkins and other sources to estimate infection risk, share of the population with some degree of immunity, and other metrics. You need to provide a name and email in order to access the tool.
Risk assessment	COVID-19 risk levels for kid-related activities	https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/navigating-kid-related-activities	6/13/21	This one isn’t a data source, per se, but I thought readers might find it helpful. A team of epidemiologists, immunologists, and public health scientists—including Katelyn Jetelina of Your Local Epidemiologist—compiled this detailed guide for families with unvaccinated children. The guide aims to help parents and families navigate their risk levels this summer.
Risk assessment	Holiday risk estimator	https://medium.com/@kjohnson_15125/holiday-risk-estimator-555e28b03afd	12/26/21	A group of data analysts at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Pandemic Prevention Institute put together this tool showing the risk of coronavirus exposure at an event or gathering, taking Omicron’s increased transmissibility into account. You can plug in your county and view your risk at 10, 20, and 30-person events, with adjustments for attendee vaccination and rapid testing. The tool will be updated daily through the end of December, according to analyst Kaitlyn Johnson, with potential further updates after that point.
Risk assessment	QCovid® risk calculator	https://qcovid.org/Home/	1/23/22	This tool, commissioned by England’s Chief Medical Officer for use in the U.K. national healthcare system, helps potential COVID-19 patients estimate their risk for severe symptoms. The tool is meant for use by doctors and other medical professionals who are actively evaluating patients, but the website allows anyone to go through the risk questionnaire and see their status. (You just can’t use the results for anything beyond gaining information.)
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	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	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	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	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. 2/28/21 update: Back in January, I wrote about Global.health, a data science initiative aiming to bring anonymized case data to researchers on a global scale. The initiative’s COVID-19 dataset is now online, including over 10 million individual case records from dozens of countries. If you’d like to better understand why this dataset is a pretty big deal, read this article in Nature or this one in STAT. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00490-5 https://www.statnews.com/2021/02/24/global-health-covid19-data-records/
Science of COVID-19	COVID-19 Neuro Databank	https://med.nyu.edu/departments-institutes/population-health/divisions-sections-centers/biostatistics/research/nih-neurodatabank-neurobiobank	1/31/21	The National Institutes of Health has started a new database to keep track of neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19. The database will be fully anonymized, and it’ll be accessible for scientists who want to better understand neurological complications with the disease. For more information, see this press release from the NIH. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-launches-database-track-neurological-symptoms-associated-covid-19
Science of COVID-19	CoVariants	https://covariants.org/	2/21/21	This new resource from virus tracker Dr. Emma Hodcroft provides an overview of SARS-CoV-2 variants and mutations. You can explore how variants have spread across different parts of the world through brightly colored charts. The resource is powered by GISAID, Nextstrain, and other sequencing data; follow Dr. Hodcroft on Twitter for regular updates. https://twitter.com/firefoxx66
Science of COVID-19	NIH COVID-19 treatment guidelines	https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/	2/28/21	In one of the White House COVID-19 press briefings this week, Dr. Fauci referenced this National Institutes of Health (NIH) website intended to provide both physicians and researchers with the latest guidance on how to treat COVID-19 patients. The website acts as a living medical document, featuring an interactive table of contents and a text search tool. Follow @NIHCOVIDTxGuide on Twitter for updates.
Science of COVID-19	Coronavirus variant data from USA TODAY	https://github.com/USATODAY/covid-variants/	3/7/21	The CDC doesn’t publish a time series of its counts of COVID-19 cases caused by variants. So, USA TODAY journalists have set up a program to scrape these data whenever the CDC publishes an update and store the data in a CSV, including variant counts for every U.S. state. The time series goes back to early January.
Science of COVID-19	Helix COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard	https://www.helix.com/pages/helix-covid-19-surveillance-dashboard	3/14/21	Helix, a population genomics company, is one of the leading private partners in the CDC’s effort to ramp up SARS-CoV-2 sequencing efforts in the U.S. The company is reporting B.1.1.7 cases identified in select states, along with data on a mutation called S gene target failure (or SGTF) that scientists have found to be a major identification point in distinguishing B.1.1.7 from other strains.
Science of COVID-19	Pfizer COVID-19 Clinical Trials	https://www.pfizer.com/science/find-a-trial/search/COVID-19	4/4/21	An interactive, searchable map from Pfizer lets you look up vaccine trials around the world. For each trial, you can see the location, the trial’s phase, who’s eligible to join, and a link out to more information on ClinicalTrials.gov. Trials are happening in the U.S., the U.K., Spain, and Japan.
Science of COVID-19	mRNA sequence for the Moderna vaccine	https://github.com/NAalytics/Assemblies-of-putative-SARS-CoV2-spike-encoding-mRNA-sequences-for-vaccines-BNT-162b2-and-mRNA-1273/blob/main/Assemblies%20of%20putative%20SARS-CoV2-spike-encoding%20mRNA%20sequences%20for%20vaccines%20BNT-162b2%20and%20mRNA-1273.docx.pdf	4/4/21	A group of scientists at Stanford used small amounts of Moderna vaccine left after all doses were extracted from vials to sequence the mRNA in that vaccine, then posted the sequence publicly on GitHub. The full sequence takes up two pages. You can read more about the scientists’ work and their decision to post the sequence in Motherboard. https://www.vice.com/en/article/7k9gya/stanford-scientists-reverse-engineer-moderna-vaccine-post-code-on-github
Science of COVID-19	Coronavirus variant lineages (PANGO)	https://cov-lineages.org/lineage_description_list.html	5/30/21	I came across this source a few days ago while researching variant lineages, prompted by a question on Twitter. Phylogenetic Assignment of Named Global Outbreak Lineages (or PANGO Lineages, for short) is a software tool developed by a lab in the U.K. that allows users to submit and analyze coronavirus sequences. The specific page I’ve linked here provides a comprehensive, searchable list of all the coronavirus variants that scientists have identified. Very useful if you need to search up an older or less-well-known variant.
Science of COVID-19	The human genetic architecture of COVID-19	https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03767-x	7/11/21	Since spring 2020, an international group of geneticists have worked to analyze DNA from COVID-19 patients. A major manuscript on these efforts was accepted to Nature and posted online last week (it’s still going through edits); see the supplementary information section for extensive genetic data. And for more backstory on the project, see this article by STAT’s Megan Molteni: https://www.statnews.com/2021/07/08/gene-hunters-turn-up-new-clues-to-help-explain-why-covid-19-hits-some-people-so-hard/
Science of COVID-19	COVID-19 resources by Evidence Aid	https://evidenceaid.org/evidence/coronavirus-covid-19/	7/18/21	Evidence Aid is a U.K.-based nonprofit that provides evidence-based guidance for disaster response. The organization’s COVID-19 page includes plain-language research summaries about COVID-19 epidemiology, treatments, and more, available in several different languages.
Science of COVID-19	Public Health England Technical Briefings on SARS-CoV-2 variants	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investigation-of-novel-sars-cov-2-variant-variant-of-concern-20201201	7/18/21	While the CDC has not done the best job of providing data on variants and breakthrough cases, the U.K.’s public health agency is sequencing more cases than any other country—and providing detailed reports on the results of those efforts. These reports may be useful for anyone seeking to keep a close eye on Delta and other variants’ ability to beat our vaccines.
Science of COVID-19	CDC seroprevalence data	https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#national-lab	3/6/22	The CDC recently updated a dashboard showing data from seroprevalence surveys, which use information from labs across the country to estimate how many Americans have resolving or recent coronavirus infections. (This does not include vaccinations, unlike other seroprevalence estimates.) According to this new update, about 43% of the country had antibodies from a recent infection as of late January.
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	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	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
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	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 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	Under-testing in U.S. prisons and jails	https://uclacovidbehindbars.org/assets/cfr_report_final.pdf	10/31/21	A new report from the UCLA Law COVID Behind Bars Data Project explores how insufficient COVID-19 testing of incarcerated people in the U.S. contributes to skewed case rates. Even in the states that have tested their incarcerated populations the most, this report shows, that testing is still far less frequent than testing for other congregate living facilities, like nursing homes.
Testing	When To Test (NIH)	https://whentotest.org/	11/7/21	Earlier this year, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) supported production of an online tool aimed at helping schools, businesses, and other organizations develop routine COVID-19 testing programs. The tool, called When To Test, was updated this week with a new calculator aimed at individuals. Input some COVID-19 information (such as your location, vaccination status, and daily contacts), and the tool will help you determine whether to get tested. It could be useful for planning holiday gatherings!
Testing	COVID-19 Diagnostics Commons (ASU)	https://chs.asu.edu/diagnostics-commons/testing-commons	11/7/21	Here’s another testing source, from Arizona State University. ASU researchers built a database of over 2,500 COVID-19 testing technologies that are available or going through the regulatory approval process around the world. You can search through the tests by regulatory status, diagnostic target, accuracy levels, and more.
Testing	KFF: How Are Private Insurers Covering At-Home Rapid COVID Tests?	https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/how-are-private-insurers-covering-at-home-rapid-covid-tests/	1/23/22	A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation compares rapid at-home test reimbursement policies for 13 major private insurers, as of mid-January 2022. According to the report, six insurers are currently offering direct coverage (meaning users don’t need to pay out of pocket for the tests), while seven offer reimbursement online, by mail, or by fax.
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	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	Launch & Scale Speedometer: COVID-19 vaccine 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	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	Bloomberg's COVID-19 Vaccine 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. 2/21/21 update: The Bloomberg team made two major updates this week. First, they added a demographic vertical, which includes race and ethnicity data for the U.S. overall and for 27 states that are reporting these data. This vertical will be updated weekly. Second, the team made all of their data available on GitHub! I, for one, am quite excited to dig through the historical figures. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/us-vaccine-demographics.html https://github.com/BloombergGraphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-data
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	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	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	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	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
Vaccines	COVAX Global Supply Forecast	https://www.gavi.org/sites/default/files/covid/covax/COVAX%20Supply%20Forecast.pdf	1/31/21	Another global data source is this report from COVAX, an initiative from the World Health Organization and Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness. The report provides summaries of the global vaccine supply, including both existing contracts and those under negotiation.
Vaccines	Subnational COVID-19 vaccination data	https://github.com/sociepy/covid19-vaccination-subnational	2/14/21	Barcelona-based data scientist Lucas Rodés-Guirao has compiled vaccination data at subnational levels (or, states and regions) for 20 different countries. The dataset includes the U.S. as well nations in Europe and South America; it’s sourced from public data released by national public health agencies.
Vaccines	The Next Phase of Vaccine Distribution: High-Risk Medical Conditions (from KFF)	https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/the-next-phase-of-vaccine-distribution-high-risk-medical-conditions/	2/21/21	The latest analysis brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation looks at how individuals with high-risk medical conditions are being prioritized for vaccine distribution in each state. KFF researchers compared each state’s prioritization plans to the CDC’s list of conditions that “are at increased risk” or “may be at an increased risk” for severe illness due to COVID-19; the analysis reflects information available as of February 16.
Vaccines	First Month of COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Monitoring (CDC MMWR)	https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7008e3.htm?s_cid=mm7008e3_w	2/21/21	This past Friday, the CDC released a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report with data from the first month of safety monitoring, using the agency’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (or VAERS). Out of the 13.8 million vaccine doses administered during this period, about 7,000 adverse events were reported—and only 640 were classified as serious. Check the full report for figures on common side effects and enrollment in the CDC’s new v-safe monitoring program.
Vaccines	VaccineFinder	https://vaccinefinder.org/	2/28/21	As of Wednesday, Americans can use this national tool to find COVID-19 vaccine appointments. Just put in your ZIP code and select a radius (1 mile, 10 miles, 50 miles, etc.), and the tool will show you providers nearby. For each provider, the tool provides contact information—and, crucially, whether this location actually has vaccines in stock. Unlike many other federal dashboards, VaccineFinder isn’t a new tool; it was developed during the H1N1 flu outbreak in 2009. STAT’s Katie Palmer provides more history and context on the site here. https://www.statnews.com/2021/02/24/cdc-vaccinefinder-covid19-locations/
Vaccines	VaccinateCA API	https://docs.vaccinateca.com/reference	3/7/21	California readers, this one’s for you. The community-driven project VaccinateCA, aimed at helping Californians get vaccinated, has made its underlying data available for researchers. The API includes data on vaccination sites and their availability across the state.
Vaccines	AHCJ resource on COVID-19 vaccine results	https://healthjournalism.org/blog/2021/04/new-data-resource-lists-research-on-infection-prevention-from-covid-19-vaccines/	5/2/21	The Association for Health Care Journalists has added a section to its Medical Studies repository for studies on how well COVID-19 vaccines protect against infection. Tara Haelle, AHCJ’s medical core topic leader, compiled the studies; “The list is not necessarily exhaustive, but it includes the studies I was able to track down so far,” she writes in a blog post about this update.
Vaccines	Vaccine consent laws by state	https://www.vaxteen.org/consent-laws-by-state	5/23/21	As the Pfizer vaccine is now available to children ages 12 to 15, a lot of teenagers out there may want to know if they can get vaccinated without parental permission. The site VaxTeen provides these kids with information on the consent laws in every state, as well as a guide for talking to your parents about vaccines and other resources.
Vaccines	COVID-19 Vaccine Incentives	https://www.vaccines.gov/incentives.html	6/6/21	So many companies are now offering rewards to inspire vaccinations in their customers and employees, it might be hard to keep track. Luckily, the federal government is keeping track for you; this page on Vaccines.gov provides a comprehensive list. (I am particularly excited about the United Airlines “Your Shot to Fly” Sweepstakes.)
Vaccines	Community health center vaccinations (from KFF)	https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/are-health-centers-facilitating-equitable-access-to-covid-19-vaccinations-a-june-2021-update/	6/6/21	A new brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation demonstrates the value of community health centers in vaccinating vulnerable populations. From January through May, people of color made up nearly two-thirds of those receiving their first doses at these centers, KFF reports.
Vaccines	COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout across US Congressional Districts	https://geographicinsights.iq.harvard.edu/vaccineuscongress	6/13/21	This dashboard, from the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, breaks down the U.S. vaccine rollout by a geography I haven’t yet seen: Congressional districts. The interactive maps highlight the partisan nature of this vaccine rollout—as POLITICO reporters pointed out in an article citing the tracker, “All but one of the 39 congressional districts where at least 60 percent of residents have received a coronavirus shot are represented by Democrats.” https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/05/partisan-divide-vaccinations-491947
Vaccines	AMA survey on doctor vaccinations	https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/2021-06/physician-vaccination-study-topline-report.pdf	6/20/21	The American Medical Association (AMA) recently released survey data showing that 96% of U.S. physicians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as of June 8. The 14-page report includes demographic data and other details.
Vaccines	Vaccine hesitancy by ZIP code	https://vaccine-hesitancy.healthdata.org/	6/27/21	A new data visualization tool from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation provides details on which parts of the U.S. would most benefit from vaccination campaigns. The underlying data come from a survey run by the Delphi Research Group at Carnegie Mellon, conducted between June 4 and June 10.
Vaccines	US COVID-19 Vaccination Tracking	http://www.vaccinetracking.us/	7/11/21	If you’d like to scroll through a county-level vaccine dashboard that actually includes Texas, researchers from the Bansal Lab at Georgetown University have you covered. This dashboard includes data from state public health departments to supplement the CDC’s incomplete reporting.
Vaccines	COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Hesitancy in Low and Middle Income Countries	https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01454-y	7/18/21	One more new paper, this one published in Nature: an international group of researchers analyzed vaccine acceptance across several low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the U.S., and Russia. They found much higher vaccine acceptance in LMICs (80%) compared to the U.S. (65%) and Russian (30%). The study data are available on GitHub: https://github.com/wzb-ipi/covid_vaccines_nmed
Vaccines	COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Cases: Data from the States (KFF)	https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/covid-19-vaccine-breakthrough-cases-data-from-the-states/	8/1/21	Looking to see how your state reports vaccine breakthrough cases? The Kaiser Family Foundation has you covered with this dashboard, including data and annotations from every state that reports breakthroughs. This resource was published on July 30; it’s unclear whether KFF intends to update it in the coming weeks.
Vaccines	COVID-19 Vaccination among People with Disabilities	https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations-disability-status	8/15/21	Another recent change to the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker is this new page, reflecting vaccination coverage among Americans with disabilities. Data come from the Census’ Household Pulse Survey, which began asking respondents about their disability and vaccine status in April 2021.
Vaccines	Breakthrough cases by state, NYT	https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/10/us/covid-breakthrough-infections-vaccines.html	8/15/21	The New York Times has compiled and analyzed state data from on breakthrough (post-full-vaccination) COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. This information is available for 40 states and Washington, D.C.; the remaining 10 states failed to share their data with the NYT. Raw data underlying this analysis have yet to be made public on the NYT GitHub repository.
Vaccines	Vaccine hesitancy roundup from the Journalist’s Resource	https://journalistsresource.org/health/vaccine-hesitancy-research-roundup-data-sources/	9/19/21	This resource page includes a wealth of data and insights on vaccine hesitancy in the U.S., drawing from a variety of surveys and research papers on the topic. As of early September, author Naseem Miller writes, the PubMed research database included over 750 studies on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, signifying growing academic interest in this topic.
Vaccines	COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness (CDC)	https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccine-effectiveness	10/10/21	The CDC has added a new page to its COVID Data Tracker, focused on visualizing how well the vaccines work. This page includes data from several ongoing studies used by the CDC to monitor vaccine effectiveness: one tracks COVID-19 infection in long-term care facility residents, another tracks hospitalization in veterans, and so on. “This is not a comprehensive representation of all data sets, but the populations being followed are large and well described (if limited),” said science writer Katherine Wu, sharing the new page on Twitter.
Vaccines	Reporting recipe for breakthrough case data	https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2021/oct/25/how-you-can-find-more-details-about-covid-19-break/	10/31/21	Dillon Bergin, my colleague at the Documenting COVID-19 project, wrote this reporting recipe, which guides local newsrooms through acquiring data on and covering breakthrough cases in their areas. The recipe accompanies a recent story that Dillon wrote, in collaboration with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, on breakthrough cases by occupation in Las Vegas. https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/clark-county/data-offers-glimpse-of-breakthrough-risks-for-southern-nevada-workers-2464684/
Vaccines	Polling on small businesses and vaccine mandates	https://www.uschamber.com/workforce/small-businesses-trying-to-hire-face-growing-difficulty-finding-workers	10/31/21	Here’s another vaccine survey released this week, this one from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The agency asked small businesses about their positions on vaccine mandates, as well as hiring challenges and other issues. 64% of small business owners support “businesses in their area requiring vaccines for their employees,” the survey found.
Vaccines	Breakthrough case reporting by state (Rockefeller Foundation)	https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/blog/the-critical-challenge-of-tracking-breakthrough-infections-and-why-we-still-need-better-data-standards/	11/21/21	36 states are reporting breakthrough COVID-19 cases, 34 are reporting breakthrough hospitalizations, and 37 are reporting breakthrough deaths, according to a report from former COVID Tracking Project researchers and the Rockefeller Foundation. The report also discusses the challenges of tracking breakthrough cases and the importance of linking clinical and demographic data to these cases.
Vaccines	State Reporting of Covid-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Infections	https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/pandemicpreventioninstitute/%20u-s-vaccine-breakthrough-reporting-scorecard/	12/26/21	Researchers from the Pandemic Tracking Collective and the Rockefeller Foundation evaluated every state’s reporting of COVID-19 breakthrough cases. The evaluations include both the data fields states report and how information is presented. Only three states (California, Colorado, and Utah) scored an A; nine states that don’t share breakthrough case data regularly scored an F. This dashboard will be updated once a month going forward.
Vaccines	Deaths and hospitalizations averted by vaccines	https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2021/dec/us-covid-19-vaccination-program-one-year-how-many-deaths-and	1/8/22	This December report from philanthropy foundation the Commonwealth Fund provides estimates on the severe COVID-19 cases prevented by the U.S. vaccination effort. Without vaccination, the report estimates, “there would have been approximately 1.1 million additional COVID-19 deaths and more than 10.3 million additional COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. by November 2021.” (H/t Your Local Epidemiologist.)
Vaccines	Companies requiring COVID-19 vaccinations	https://www.channele2e.com/news/companies-require-coronavirus-vaccinations/	1/30/22	ChannelE2E, a news site covering the IT industry, has compiled this comprehensive list of major companies requiring their employees to get vaccinated. The list includes about 50 companies, and is regularly updated with links to news sources discussing policy changes. (H/t Al Tompkins’ COVID-19 newsletter.)
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. 4/11/21 update: Now, you can read the profiles of hundreds more. 3,607 deaths have been recorded in total. KHN and The Guardian closed their joint investigation this week, and public health leaders and policymakers are now calling on the federal government to continue this crucial work. https://khn.org/news/article/biden-track-us-health-care-worker-covid-deaths/
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 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	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 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.
Vulnerable communities	Anti-Asian Hate Incidents	https://secureservercdn.net/104.238.69.231/a1w.90d.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Press-Statement-re_-Bay-Area-Elderly-Incidents-2.9.2021-1.pdf	2/14/21	Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition documenting anti-Asian hate and discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic, has released a new report with data on 2020 incidents. According to the report, Stop AAPI Hate has received 2,800 firsthand accounts of anti-Asian hate from 47 states and D.C. since the organization started collecting reports in mid-March.
Vulnerable communities	COVID-19’s impact on LGBTQ+ communities	https://journalistsresource.org/home/covid-19-lgbtq-research/	2/28/21	The Journalist’s Resource at Harvard Kennedy School has compiled a list of recent research on how the coronavirus pandemic impacted LGBTQ+ Americans. In many cases, the pandemic furthered disproportionate poverty and poor health outcomes in this community; they shouldn’t be ignored in COVID-19 coverage.
Vulnerable communities	COVID-19 related deaths by occupation, England and Wales	https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/causesofdeath/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19relateddeathsbyoccupationenglandandwales/deathsregisteredbetween9marchand28december2020	3/14/21	The U.S. doesn’t publish any data connecting COVID-19 cases or deaths to occupations, but the U.K. data falls along similar lines to what we’d expect to see here: essential workers have been hit hardest. Men in “elementary occupations,” a class of jobs that require some physical labor, and women in service and leisure occupations have the highest death rates.
Vulnerable communities	The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on LGBT People	https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/poll-finding/the-impact-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-on-lgbt-people/	3/14/21	This brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation addresses a key data gap in the U.S.; the national public health agencies and most states do not publish any data on how the pandemic has specifically hit the LGBTQ+ community. KFF surveys found that a larger share of LGBTQ+ adults have experienced job loss and negative health impacts in the past year, compared to non-LGBTQ+ adults.
Vulnerable communities	Data Reporting & Quality Scorecard from the UCLA Law COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project	https://uclacovidbehindbars.org/blog/scorecard	3/21/21	The researchers and volunteers at UCLA have been tracking COVID-19 in prisons, jails, and other detention facilities since March 2020. This new scorecard, described on the project’s blog, reflects the quality of data available from state correctional agencies, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and other government sources. No state or federal institution on the list scores an A; the vast majority score Fs.
Vulnerable communities	Counties with High COVID-19 Incidence and Relatively Large Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations (CDC MMWR)	https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7013e1.htm?s_cid=mm7013e1_w	3/28/21	The CDC continues adding to the overwhelming body of evidence pointing to disproportionately high COVID-19 impacts for people of color in the U.S. This report, released last Wednesday, identified counties across the U.S. that had both large minority populations and high COVID-19 case counts (relative to their populations) between April and December 2020. Different racial/ethnic groups have had different trajectories, but by mid-December, almost all counties in the U.S. had high case numbers thanks to the overwhelming winter surge.
Vulnerable communities	Food Insecurity in the United States	http://map.feedingamerica.org/	4/11/21	Nonprofit hunger relief organization Feeding America has compiled and mapped data showing how the pandemic has impacted food insecurity in the U.S. You can search for a specific state, county, or local food bank to see food-insecure population estimates, average meal costs, food stamp program eligibility, and more.
Vulnerable communities	NYT Prisons and Jails COVID-19 counts	https://github.com/nytimes/covid-19-data/blob/master/prisons/facilities.csv	4/25/21	This week, the New York Times published data from the newsroom’s effort tracking COVID-19 cases and deaths in U.S. prisons and jails. The data include both inmates and correctional officers, covering over 2,800 facilities. You can read more about the dataset in this Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/nytgraphics/status/1384560808965943298
Vulnerable communities	Health Equity Tracker	https://healthequitytracker.org/exploredata	5/30/21	When the COVID Tracking Project (including the COVID Racial Data Tracker) ceased data collection in March, it became much more difficult to compare COVID-19 case counts by race and ethnicity across states. A new project from the Morehouse School of Medicine fills that gap—and does much more. The Tracker incorporates data from the CDC, the Census, and other sources to provide comprehensive information on which communities have been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more about it in this STAT article: https://www.statnews.com/2021/05/26/health-equity-tracker-disparities-data-covid19/
Vulnerable communities	Health Equity Data (from the CDC)	https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#health-equity-data	6/6/21	The CDC has reorganized its COVID Data Tracker to include a new dashboard section specifically focused on health equity. The section includes demographic trends for cases, deaths, and vaccinations, with breakdowns for race and ethnicity, urban/rural status, disabilities, incarcerated people, and more.
Vulnerable communities	OIG report on nursing homes	https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/OEI-02-20-00490.asp	6/27/21	The HHS Office of Inspector General published a new report this week evaluating COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing homes. The report found that two in five Medicare beneficiaries living in nursing homes were diagnosed with COVID-19 (confirmed or probable cases) in 2020, and almost 1,000 more seniors died per day in April 2020 compared to April 2019.
Vulnerable communities	2021 Health Disparities Report by America's Health Rankings	https://www.americashealthrankings.org/learn/reports/2021-disparities-report	7/25/21	This source isn't specific to COVID-19, but it may be invaluable for reporting on the disparities worsened by the pandemic. America's Health Rankings has put together comprehensive reports on national health data for decades; this is the first report to focus specifically on social determinants of health, including social, economic, physical environment, and other factors.
Vulnerable communities	Prisoners released in 2020, DOJ	https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/p20st.pdf	1/30/22	A new report from the U.S. Department of Justice includes data on state and federal prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of inmates in these facilities declined about 15% from the end of 2019 to the end of 2020, according to this report. A large cause for this decline was overall disruption in the court system, not compassionate releases due to the pandemic: there was a 40% decrease in prison admissions from 2019 to 2020.
Vulnerable communities	CDC report provides vaccination data by sexual orientation and gender identity	https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7105a3.htm?s_cid=mm7105a3_w	2/6/22	As health equity advocates have pushed for more demographic data describing who’s been vaccinated in the U.S., the focus is often on race and ethnicity data. But it’s also important to track vaccinations among the LGBTQ+ community, as these Americans are at higher risk for severe COVID-19 due to HIV, mental health issues, and other conditions common in this group. This new CDC report provides a snapshot of these important data, sourced from the National Immunization Survey. Notably, the report found that vaccine coverage was higher overall among gay and lesbian adults compared to straight adults—but lower among Black LGBTQ+ people across all identities.

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