Accurate, timely, and localized data are vital resources for local health departments’ response efforts against COVID-19. Today, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), the voice of the country’s nearly 3,000 local health departments, launched its COVID-19 Data Lab, powered by Esri, to showcase available data that is geared toward the specific needs of health departments.
NACCHO’s COVID-19 Data Lab is a dynamic resource that will evolve over time. In this first iteration, users will be able to use the interactive COVID-19 Dashboard to explore the extent of COVID-19 tests, cases, and deaths in their communities and counties. Going forward, additional data points will be included, as available, to provide clearer, more nuanced information critical to supporting the COVID-19 response at the community level. “Minutes count in accessing the most accurate data possible to make decisions,” said NACCHO CEO Lori Tremmel Freeman.
“NACCHO’s new COVID-19 Data Lab will provide our health departments with a vital resource where they’ll be able to customize and track the latest data at the local level in their efforts to best serve their communities. It will also highlight needs at the local level to help inform national prioritization and action. Over time, the lab will continue to grow, as we develop more resources to assist local-level planning and response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Additional information on NACCHO’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic can be found here.
The data for this dashboard is updated multiple times a day and is created and maintained by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at the Johns Hopkins University and supported by Esri Living Atlas team and JHU Data Services. The Data Lab will also house ESRI’s impact planning reports for U.S. states, territories, counties, and municipalities. These reports help local health departments better understand the demographics of the communities that are currently being impacted, the number of cases, and the average number of hospital beds. All 3,220 reports are currently available and provide unique information to assist in the planning and response to COVID-19.
