COVID-19 Data Dispatch Source List

	A	B	C	D	E
1	Category	Name	Link	Week featured	Description

2	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.
3	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.
4	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.
5	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.
6	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.
7	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).
8	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.
9	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.
10	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
11	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.
12	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.
13	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.
14	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.
15	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.
16	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.
17	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.
18	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.
19	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).
20	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.
21	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)
22	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.)
23	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.
24	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).
25	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
26	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.
27	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/
28	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.
29	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
30	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/
31	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/
32	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.”
33	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
34	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.
35	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
36	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.
37	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.
38	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.
39	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.
40	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.
41	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.
42	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.)
43	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.
44	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.
45	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
46	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
47	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?
48	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.
49	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.
50	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
51	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.
52	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.
53	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.)
54	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.
55	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.
56	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/
57	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.
58	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.
59	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.
60	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
61	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.
62	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
63	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
64	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.
65	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.
66	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/
67	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/
68	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
69	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
70	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.
71	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
72	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.
73	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.
74	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).”
75	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.
76	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
77	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)
78	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.
79	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
80	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?
81	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.
82	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.
83	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.
84	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.
85	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.
86	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.
87	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.
88	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.
89	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.
90	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.
91	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
92	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.
93	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/
94	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.
95	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
96	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.
97	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.
98	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.
99	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%.
100	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