As of March 10, 2023, the state with the highest rate of COVID-19 cases was Rhode Island followed by Alaska. Around 103.9 million cases have been reported across the United States, with the states of California, Texas, and Florida reporting the highest numbers of infections.

From an epidemic to a pandemic The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The term pandemic refers to multiple outbreaks of an infectious illness threatening multiple parts of the world at the same time; when the transmission is this widespread, it can no longer be traced back to the country where it originated. The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide is roughly 683 million, and it has affected almost every country in the world.

The symptoms and those who are most at risk Most people who contract the virus will suffer only mild symptoms, such as a cough, a cold, or a high temperature. However, in more severe cases, the infection can cause breathing difficulties and even pneumonia. Those at higher risk include older persons and people with pre-existing medical conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, and lung disease. Those aged 85 years and older have accounted for around 27 percent of all COVID deaths in the United States, although this age group makes up just two percent of the total population

The New York Times is releasing a series of data files with cumulative counts of coronavirus cases in the United States, at the state and county level, over time. We are compiling this time series data from state and local governments and health departments in an attempt to provide a complete record of the ongoing outbreak.

Since late January, The Times has tracked cases of coronavirus in real time as they were identified after testing. Because of the widespread shortage of testing, however, the data is necessarily limited in the picture it presents of the outbreak.

We have used this data to power our maps and reporting tracking the outbreak, and it is now being made available to the public in response to requests from researchers, scientists and government officials who would like access to the data to better understand the outbreak.

The data begins with the first reported coronavirus case in Washington State on Jan. 21, 2020. We will publish regular updates to the data in this repository.

Reporting of Aggregate Case and Death Count data was discontinued May 11, 2023, with the expiration of the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration. Although these data will continue to be publicly available, this dataset will no longer be updated.

This archived public use dataset has 11 data elements reflecting United States COVID-19 community levels for all available counties.

The COVID-19 community levels were developed using a combination of three metrics — new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population in the past 7 days, the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days. The COVID-19 community level was determined by the higher of the new admissions and inpatient beds metrics, based on the current level of new cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days. New COVID-19 admissions and the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied represent the current potential for strain on the health system. Data on new cases acts as an early warning indicator of potential increases in health system strain in the event of a COVID-19 surge.

Using these data, the COVID-19 community level was classified as low, medium, or high.

COVID-19 Community Levels were used to help communities and individuals make decisions based on their local context and their unique needs. Community vaccination coverage and other local information, like early alerts from surveillance, such as through wastewater or the number of emergency department visits for COVID-19, when available, can also inform decision making for health officials and individuals.

For the most accurate and up-to-date data for any county or state, visit the relevant health department website. COVID Data Tracker may display data that differ from state and local websites. This can be due to differences in how data were collected, how metrics were calculated, or the timing of web updates.

Archived Data Notes:

This dataset was renamed from "United States COVID-19 Community Levels by County as Originally Posted" to "United States COVID-19 Community Levels by County" on March 31, 2022.

March 31, 2022: Column name for county population was changed to “county_population”. No change was made to the data points previous released.

March 31, 2022: New column, “health_service_area_population”, was added to the dataset to denote the total population in the designated Health Service Area based on 2019 Census estimate.

March 31, 2022: FIPS codes for territories American Samoa, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and United States Virgin Islands were re-formatted to 5-digit numeric for records released on 3/3/2022 to be consistent with other records in the dataset.

March 31, 2022: Changes were made to the text fields in variables “county”, “state”, and “health_service_area” so the formats are consistent across releases.

March 31, 2022: The “%” sign was removed from the text field in column “covid_inpatient_bed_utilization”. No change was made to the data. As indicated in the column description, values in this column represent the percentage of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients (7-day average).

March 31, 2022: Data values for columns, “county_population”, “health_service_area_number”, and “health_service_area” were backfilled for records released on 2/24/2022. These columns were added since the week of 3/3/2022, thus the values were previously missing for records released the week prior.

April 7, 2022: Updates made to data released on 3/24/2022 for Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and United States Virgin Islands to correct a data mapping error.

April 21, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for counties in Nebraska for the week of April 21, 2022 have 3 counties identified in the high category and 37 in the medium category. CDC has been working with state officials to verify the data submitted, as other data systems are not providing alerts for substantial increases in disease transmission or severity in the state.

May 26, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for McCracken County, KY for the week of May 5, 2022 have been updated to correct a data processing error. McCracken County, KY should have appeared in the low community level category during the week of May 5, 2022. This correction is reflected in this update.

May 26, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for several Florida counties for the week of May 19th, 2022, have been corrected for a data processing error. Of note, Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach Counties should have appeared in the high CCL category, and Osceola County should have appeared in the medium CCL category. These corrections are reflected in this update.

May 26, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for Orange County, New York for the week of May 26, 2022 displayed an erroneous case rate of zero and a CCL category of low due to a data source error. This county should have appeared in the medium CCL category.

June 2, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for Tolland County, CT for the week of May 26, 2022 have been updated to correct a data processing error. Tolland County, CT should have appeared in the medium community level category during the week of May 26, 2022. This correction is reflected in this update.

June 9, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for Tolland County, CT for the week of May 26, 2022 have been updated to correct a misspelling. The medium community level category for Tolland County, CT on the week of May 26, 2022 was misspelled as “meduim” in the data set. This correction is reflected in this update.

June 9, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for Mississippi counties for the week of June 9, 2022 should be interpreted with caution due to a reporting cadence change over the Memorial Day holiday that resulted in artificially inflated case rates in the state.

July 7, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for Rock County, Minnesota for the week of July 7, 2022 displayed an artificially low case rate and CCL category due to a data source error. This county should have appeared in the high CCL category.

July 14, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for Massachusetts counties for the week of July 14, 2022 should be interpreted with caution due to a reporting cadence change that resulted in lower than expected case rates and CCL categories in the state.

July 28, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for all Montana counties for the week of July 21, 2022 had case rates of 0 due to a reporting issue. The case rates have been corrected in this update.

July 28, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released for Alaska for all weeks prior to July 21, 2022 included non-resident cases. The case rates for the time series have been corrected in this update.

July 28, 2022: A laboratory in Nevada reported a backlog of historic COVID-19 cases. As a result, the 7-day case count and rate will be inflated in Clark County, NV for the week of July 28, 2022.

August 4, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data was updated on August 2, 2022 in error during performance testing. Data for the week of July 28, 2022 was changed during this update due to additional case and hospital data as a result of late reporting between July 28, 2022 and August 2, 2022. Since the purpose of this data set is to provide point-in-time views of COVID-19 Community Levels on Thursdays, any changes made to the data set during the August 2, 2022 update have been reverted in this update.

August 4, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data for the week of July 28, 2022 for 8 counties in Utah (Beaver County, Daggett County, Duchesne County, Garfield County, Iron County, Kane County, Uintah County, and Washington County) case data was missing due to data collection issues. CDC and its partners have resolved the issue and the correction is reflected in this update.

August 4, 2022: Due to a reporting cadence change, case rates for all Alabama counties will be lower than expected. As a result, the CCL levels published on August 4, 2022 should be interpreted with caution.

August 11, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data for the week of August 4, 2022 for South Carolina have been updated to correct a data collection error that resulted in incorrect case data. CDC and its partners have resolved the issue and the correction is reflected in this update.

August 18, 2022: COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data for the week of August 11, 2022 for Connecticut have been updated to correct a data ingestion error that inflated the CT case rates. CDC, in collaboration with CT, has resolved the issue and the correction is reflected in this update.

August 25, 2022: A laboratory in Tennessee reported a backlog of historic COVID-19 cases. As a result, the 7-day case count and rate may be inflated in many counties and the CCLs published on August 25, 2022 should be interpreted with caution.

August 25, 2022: Due to a data source error, the 7-day case rate for St. Louis County, Missouri, is reported as zero in the COVID-19 Community Level data released on August 25, 2022. Therefore, the COVID-19 Community Level for this county should be interpreted with caution.

September 1, 2022: Due to a reporting issue, case rates for all Nebraska counties will include 6 days of data instead of 7 days in the COVID-19 Community Level (CCL) data released on September 1, 2022. Therefore, the CCLs for all Nebraska counties should be interpreted with caution.

September 8, 2022: Due to a data processing error, the case rate for Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania,

Reporting of new Aggregate Case and Death Count data was discontinued May 11, 2023, with the expiration of the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration. This dataset will receive a final update on June 1, 2023, to reconcile historical data through May 10, 2023, and will remain publicly available.

Aggregate Data Collection Process Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, data have been gathered through a robust process with the following steps:

• A CDC data team reviews and validates the information obtained from jurisdictions’ state and local websites via an overnight data review process.
• If more than one official county data source exists, CDC uses a comprehensive data selection process comparing each official county data source, and takes the highest case and death counts respectively, unless otherwise specified by the state.
• CDC compiles these data and posts the finalized information on COVID Data Tracker.
• County level data is aggregated to obtain state and territory specific totals.

This process is collaborative, with CDC and jurisdictions working together to ensure the accuracy of COVID-19 case and death numbers. County counts provide the most up-to-date numbers on cases and deaths by report date. CDC may retrospectively update counts to correct data quality issues.

Methodology Changes Several differences exist between the current, weekly-updated dataset and the archived version:

• Source: The current Weekly-Updated Version is based on county-level aggregate count data, while the Archived Version is based on State-level aggregate count data.
• Confirmed/Probable Cases/Death breakdown:  While the probable cases and deaths are included in the total case and total death counts in both versions (if applicable), they were reported separately from the confirmed cases and deaths by jurisdiction in the Archived Version.  In the current Weekly-Updated Version, the counts by jurisdiction are not reported by confirmed or probable status (See Confirmed and Probable Counts section for more detail).
• Time Series Frequency: The current Weekly-Updated Version contains weekly time series data (i.e., one record per week per jurisdiction), while the Archived Version contains daily time series data (i.e., one record per day per jurisdiction).
• Update Frequency: The current Weekly-Updated Version is updated weekly, while the Archived Version was updated twice daily up to October 20, 2022.

Important note: The counts reflected during a given time period in this dataset may not match the counts reflected for the same time period in the archived dataset noted above. Discrepancies may exist due to differences between county and state COVID-19 case surveillance and reconciliation efforts.

Confirmed and Probable Counts In this dataset, counts by jurisdiction are not displayed by confirmed or probable status. Instead, confirmed and probable cases and deaths are included in the Total Cases and Total Deaths columns, when available. Not all jurisdictions report probable cases and deaths to CDC.* Confirmed and probable case definition criteria are described here:

Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (ymaws.com).

Deaths CDC reports death data on other sections of the website: CDC COVID Data Tracker: Home, CDC COVID Data Tracker: Cases, Deaths, and Testing, and NCHS Provisional Death Counts. Information presented on the COVID Data Tracker pages is based on the same source (total case counts) as the present dataset; however, NCHS Death Counts are based on death certificates that use information reported by physicians, medical examiners, or coroners in the cause-of-death section of each certificate. Data from each of these pages are considered provisional (not complete and pending verification) and are therefore subject to change. Counts from previous weeks are continually revised as more records are received and processed.

Number of Jurisdictions Reporting There are currently 60 public health jurisdictions reporting cases of COVID-19. This includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, New York City, the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S Virgin Islands as well as three independent countries in compacts of free association with the United States, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau. New York State’s reported case and death counts do not include New York City’s counts as they separately report nationally notifiable conditions to CDC.

CDC COVID-19 data are available to the public as summary or aggregate count files, including total counts of cases and deaths, available by state and by county. These and other data on COVID-19 are available from multiple public locations, such as:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html

https://www.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/index.html

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/open-america/surveillance-data-analytics.html

Additional COVID-19 public use datasets, include line-level (patient-level) data, are available at: https://data.cdc.gov/browse?tags=covid-19.

Archived Data Notes:

November 3, 2022: Due to a reporting cadence issue, case rates for Missouri counties are calculated based on 11 days’ worth of case count data in the Weekly United States COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by State data released on November 3, 2022, instead of the customary 7 days’ worth of data.

November 10, 2022: Due to a reporting cadence change, case rates for Alabama counties are calculated based on 13 days’ worth of case count data in the Weekly United States COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by State data released on November 10, 2022, instead of the customary 7 days’ worth of data.

November 10, 2022: Per the request of the jurisdiction, cases and deaths among non-residents have been removed from all Hawaii county totals throughout the entire time series. Cumulative case and death counts reported by CDC will no longer match Hawaii’s COVID-19 Dashboard, which still includes non-resident cases and deaths. 

November 17, 2022: Two new columns, weekly historic cases and weekly historic deaths, were added to this dataset on November 17, 2022. These columns reflect case and death counts that were reported that week but were historical in nature and not reflective of the current burden within the jurisdiction. These historical cases and deaths are not included in the new weekly case and new weekly death columns; however, they are reflected in the cumulative totals provided for each jurisdiction. These data are used to account for artificial increases in case and death totals due to batched reporting of historical data.

December 1, 2022: Due to cadence changes over the Thanksgiving holiday, case rates for all Ohio counties are reported as 0 in the data released on December 1, 2022.

January 5, 2023: Due to North Carolina’s holiday reporting cadence, aggregate case and death data will contain 14 days’ worth of data instead of the customary 7 days. As a result, case and death metrics will appear higher than expected in the January 5, 2023, weekly release.

January 12, 2023: Due to data processing delays, Mississippi’s aggregate case and death data will be reported as 0. As a result, case and death metrics will appear lower than expected in the January 12, 2023, weekly release.

January 19, 2023: Due to a reporting cadence issue, Mississippi’s aggregate case and death data will be calculated based on 14 days’ worth of data instead of the customary 7 days in the January 19, 2023, weekly release.

January 26, 2023: Due to a reporting backlog of historic COVID-19 cases, case rates for two Michigan counties (Livingston and Washtenaw) were higher than expected in the January 19, 2023 weekly release.

January 26, 2023: Due to a backlog of historic COVID-19 cases being reported this week, aggregate case and death counts in Charlotte County and Sarasota County, Florida, will appear higher than expected in the January 26, 2023 weekly release.

January 26, 2023: Due to data processing delays, Mississippi’s aggregate case and death data will be reported as 0 in the weekly release posted on January 26, 2023.

February 2, 2023: As of the data collection deadline, CDC observed an abnormally large increase in aggregate COVID-19 cases and deaths reported for Washington State. In response, totals for new cases and new deaths released on February 2, 2023, have been displayed as zero at the state level until the issue is addressed with state officials. CDC is working with state officials to address the issue.

February 2, 2023: Due to a decrease reported in cumulative case counts by Wyoming, case rates will be reported as 0 in the February 2, 2023, weekly release. CDC is working with state officials to verify the data submitted.

February 16, 2023: Due to data processing delays, Utah’s aggregate case and death data will be reported as 0 in the weekly release posted on February 16, 2023. As a result, case and death metrics will appear lower than expected and should be interpreted with caution.

February 16, 2023: Due to a reporting cadence change, Maine’s

As of March 10, 2023, the state with the highest number of COVID-19 cases was California. Almost 104 million cases have been reported across the United States, with the states of California, Texas, and Florida reporting the highest numbers.

From an epidemic to a pandemic The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The term pandemic refers to multiple outbreaks of an infectious illness threatening multiple parts of the world at the same time. When the transmission is this widespread, it can no longer be traced back to the country where it originated. The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide has now reached over 669 million.

The symptoms and those who are most at risk Most people who contract the virus will suffer only mild symptoms, such as a cough, a cold, or a high temperature. However, in more severe cases, the infection can cause breathing difficulties and even pneumonia. Those at higher risk include older persons and people with pre-existing medical conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, and lung disease. People aged 85 years and older have accounted for around 27 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the United States, although this age group makes up just two percent of the U.S. population

On October 20, 2022, CDC began retrieving aggregate case and death data from jurisdictional and state partners weekly instead of daily. This dataset contains archived community transmission and related data elements by county as originally displayed on the COVID Data Tracker. Although these data will continue to be publicly available, this dataset has not been updated since October 20, 2022. An archived dataset containing weekly community transmission data by county as originally posted can also be found here: Weekly COVID-19 County Level of Community Transmission as Originally Posted | Data | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc.gov).

Related data CDC has been providing the public with two versions of COVID-19 county-level community transmission level data: this dataset with the daily values as originally posted on the COVID Data Tracker, and an historical dataset with daily data as well as the updates and corrections from state and local health departments. Similar to this dataset, the original historical dataset is archived on 10/20/2022. It will continue to be publicly available but will no longer be updated. A new dataset containing historical community transmission data by county is now published weekly and can be found at: Weekly COVID-19 County Level of Community Transmission Historical Changes | Data | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc.gov).

This public use dataset has 7 data elements reflecting community transmission levels for all available counties and jurisdictions. It contains reported daily transmission levels at the county level with the same values used to display transmission maps on the COVID Data Tracker. Each day, the dataset is appended to contain the most recent day's data. Transmission level is set to low, moderate, substantial, or high using the calculation rules below.

Methods for calculating county level of community transmission indicator The County Level of Community Transmission indicator uses two metrics: (1) total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 persons in the last 7 days and (2) percentage of positive SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) in the last 7 days. For each of these metrics, CDC classifies transmission values as low, moderate, substantial, or high (below and here). If the values for each of these two metrics differ (e.g., one indicates moderate and the other low), then the higher of the two should be used for decision-making.

CDC core metrics of and thresholds for community transmission levels of SARS-CoV-2

Total New Case Rate Metric: "New cases per 100,000 persons in the past 7 days" is calculated by adding the number of new cases in the county (or other administrative level) in the last 7 days divided by the population in the county (or other administrative level) and multiplying by 100,000. "New cases per 100,000 persons in the past 7 days" is considered to have a transmission level of Low (0-9.99); Moderate (10.00-49.99); Substantial (50.00-99.99); and High (greater than or equal to 100.00).

Test Percent Positivity Metric: "Percentage of positive NAAT in the past 7 days" is calculated by dividing the number of positive tests in the county (or other administrative level) during the last 7 days by the total number of tests conducted over the last 7 days. "Percentage of positive NAAT in the past 7 days" is considered to have a transmission level of Low (less than 5.00); Moderate (5.00-7.99); Substantial (8.00-9.99); and High (greater than or equal to 10.00).

If

Updates

April 29, 2020

• The AP is now providing historical time series data for testing counts and death counts from The COVID Tracking Project. The counts are provided here unaltered, along with a population column with Census ACS-1 estimates and calculated testing rate and death rate columns.

October 13, 2020

The COVID Tracking Project is releasing more precise total testing counts, and has changed the way it is distributing the data that ends up on this site. Previously, total testing had been represented by positive tests plus negative tests. As states are beginning to report more specific testing counts, The COVID Tracking Project is moving toward reporting those numbers directly.

This may make it more difficult to compare your state against others in terms of positivity rate, but the net effect is we now have more precise counts:

• Total Test Encounters: Total tests increase by one for every individual that is tested that day. Additional tests for that individual on that day (i.e., multiple swabs taken at the same time) are not included

• Total PCR Specimens: Total tests increase by one for every testing sample retrieved from an individual. Multiple samples from an individual on a single day can be included in the count

• Unique People Tested: Total tests increase by one the first time an individual is tested. The count will not increase in later days if that individual is tested again – even months later

These three totals are not all available for every state. The COVID Tracking Project prioritizes the different count types for each state in this order:

1. Total Test Encounters

2. Total PCR Specimens

3. Unique People Tested

If the state does not provide any of those totals directly, The COVID Tracking Project falls back to the initial calculation of total tests that it has provided up to this point: positive + negative tests.

One of the above total counts will be the number present in the cumulative_total_test_results and total_test_results_increase columns.

• The positivity rates provided on this site will divide confirmed cases by one of these total_test_results columns.

  • Due to these changes, we advise comparing positivity rates between states only if the states being compared have the same type of total test count.

Overview

The AP is using data collected by the COVID Tracking Project to measure COVID-19 testing across the United States.

The COVID Tracking Project data is available at the state level in the United States. The AP has paired this data with population figures and has calculated testing rates and death rates per 1,000 people.

This data is from The COVID Tracking Project API that is updated regularly throughout the day. Like all organizations dealing with data, The COVID Tracking Project is constantly refining and cleaning up their feed, so there may be brief moments where data does not appear correctly. At this link, you’ll find The COVID Tracking Project daily data reports, and a clean version of their feed.

A Note on timing: - The COVID Tracking Project updates regularly throughout the day, but state numbers will come in at different times. The entire Tracking Project dataset will be updated between 4-5pm EDT daily. Keep this time in mind when reporting on stories comparing states. At certain times of day, one state may be more up to date than another. We have included the date_modified timestamp for state-level data, which represents the last time the state updated its data. The date_checked value in the state-level data reflects the last time The COVID Tracking Project checked the state source. We have also included the last_modified timestamp for the national-level data, which marks the last time the national data was updated.

The AP is updating this dataset hourly at 45 minutes past the hour.

To learn more about AP's data journalism capabilities for publishers, corporations and financial institutions, go here or email kromano@ap.org.

About the data

• State-level population data is sourced from the census ACS 1-year survey for 2018.
• Historical data for each state is available on The COVID Tracking Project's main data page.

Caveats

• The total_people_tested counts do not include pending tests. They are the total number of tests that have returned positive or negative.
• The process for collecting testing data is different for each state. The COVID Tracking Project makes note of the difficulties specific to each state on their main data page.

Attribution

This data should be credited to The COVID Tracking Project

Contact

Nicky Forster — nforster@ap.org

As of November 11, 2022, almost 96.8 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the United States. The pandemic has impacted all 50 states, with vast numbers of cases recorded in California, Texas, and Florida.

The coronavirus in the U.S. The coronavirus hit the United States in mid-March 2020, and cases started to soar at an alarming rate. The country has performed a high number of COVID-19 tests, which is a necessary step to manage the outbreak, but new coronavirus cases in the U.S. have spiked several times since the pandemic began, most notably at the end of 2022. However, restrictions in many states have been eased as new cases have declined.

The origin of the coronavirus In December 2019, officials in Wuhan, China, were the first to report cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause. A new human coronavirus – SARS-CoV-2 – has since been discovered, and COVID-19 is the infectious disease it causes. All available evidence to date suggests that COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease, which means it can spread from animals to humans. The WHO says transmission is likely to have happened through an animal that is handled by humans. Researchers do not support the theory that the virus was developed in a laboratory.

As of January 23, 2021, Vermont had the highest Rt value of any U.S. state. The Rt value indicates the average number of people that one person with COVID-19 is expected to infect. A number higher than one means each infected person is passing the virus to more than one other person.

Which are the hardest-hit states? The U.S. reported its first confirmed coronavirus case toward the end of January 2020. More than 28 million positive cases have since been recorded as of February 24, 2021 – California and Texas are the states with the highest number of coronavirus cases in the United States. When figures are adjusted to reflect each state’s population, North Dakota has the highest rate of coronavirus cases. The vaccine rollout has provided Americans with a significant morale boost, and California is the state with the highest number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered.

How have other nations responded? Countries around the world have responded to the pandemic in varied ways. The United Kingdom has approved three vaccines for emergency use and ranks among the countries with the highest number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered worldwide. In the Asia-Pacific region, the outbreak has been brought under control in New Zealand, and the country’s response to the pandemic has been widely praised.

The COVID Tracking Project collects information from 50 US states, the District of Columbia, and 5 other US territories to provide the most comprehensive testing data we can collect for the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. We attempt to include positive and negative results, pending tests, and total people tested for each state or district currently reporting that data.

Testing is a crucial part of any public health response, and sharing test data is essential to understanding this outbreak. The CDC is currently not publishing complete testing data, so we’re doing our best to collect it from each state and provide it to the public. The information is patchy and inconsistent, so we’re being transparent about what we find and how we handle it—the spreadsheet includes our live comments about changing data and how we’re working with incomplete information.

From here, you can also learn about our methodology, see who makes this, and find out what information states provide and how we handle it.

As of April 26, 2023, the number of both confirmed and presumptive positive cases of the COVID-19 disease reported in the United States had reached over 104 million with over 1.1 million deaths reported among these cases.

Coronavirus deaths by age in the U.S. Daily new cases of COVID-19 hit record highs in the United States at the beginning of 2022. Underlying health conditions can worsen cases of coronavirus, and case fatality rates among confirmed COVID-19 patients increase with age. The highest number of deaths from COVID-19 have been among those aged 85 years and older, with this age group accounting for over 300 thousand deaths.

Where has this coronavirus come from? Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses transmitted between animals and people that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases. The novel coronavirus that is currently infecting humans was already circulating among certain animal species. The first human case of this new coronavirus strain was reported in China at the end of December 2019. The coronavirus was named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and its associated disease is known as COVID-19.

All data is provisional and subject to change The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Count Positive Rate is updated weekly - includes : Week ending, Tests in prior 14 days, 14 day test rate per 100K, Percent Positivity in prior 14 days, Percent Positive in prior 7 days, and Notes Source: Testing data: HHS Unified Testing Dataset; Population data: 2019 Census Rates of county positivity COVID-19 Viral (RT-PCR) Laboratory 14-Day Test Positivity Rates, by US County Documentation: The data presented represent viral COVID-19 laboratory diagnostic and screening test (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, RT-PCR) results and exclude antibody and antigen tests. COVID-19 Electronic Lab Reporting (CELR) state health department-reported data are used to describe county-level viral COVID-19 laboratory test (RT-PCR) result totals when information is available on patients’ county of residence or healthcare providers’ practice location. HHS Protect laboratory data (provided directly to Federal Government from public health labs, hospital labs, and commercial labs) are used otherwise. Some states did not report on certain days, which may affect the total number of tests resulted and positivity rate values. Total viral (RT-PCR) laboratory tests are the number of tests performed, not the number of individuals tested. Viral (RT-PCR) laboratory test positivity rate is the number of positive tests divided by the total number of tests performed and resulted. Resulted tests are assigned to a timeframe based on this hierarchy of test-related dates: 1. test date; 2. result date; 3. specimen received date; 4. specimen collection date. Resulted tests are assigned to a county based on a hierarchy of test-related locations: 1. patient residency; 2. provider facility location; 3. ordering facility location; 4. performing organization location. Special Note: During the week of Sept 14, 2020, the following updates were made to the county percent test positivity characterization methodology. In order to use a greater amount of data to calculate percent test positivity and improve the stability of values, the indicator was expanded to include 14 days of data instead of 7 days. Further, because there are instances where counties with high test positivity rates may reflect low testing levels rather than high levels of viral transmission, additional criteria were added to re-assign counties with low testing volume to lower nursing home staff testing tiers (i.e., communities with low levels of testing and high test positivity (>10%) are reassigned to either yellow or green testing tiers). Nursing homes may set their testing frequency based on the color-coded reassigned positivity classification. Counties that are classified as gray have not submitted testing data for this time period. Please refer to the state COVID-19 website for data on gray counties.: During the week of Sept 14, 2020, the following updates were made to the county percent test positivity characterization methodology. In order to use a greater amount of data to calculate percent test positivity and improve the stability of values, the indicator was expanded to include 14 days of data instead of 7 days. Further, because there are instances where counties with high test positivity rates may reflect low testing levels rather than high levels of viral transmission, additional criteria were added to re-assign counties with low testing volume to lower nursing home staff testing tiers (i.e., communities with low levels of testing and high test positivity (>10%) are reassigned to either yellow or green testing tiers). Nursing homes may set their testing frequency based on the color-coded reassigned positivity classification. Counties that are classified as gray have not submitted testing data for this time period. Please refer to the state COVID-19 website for data on gray counties. Background on Virus: About the Disease: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory illness that is spreading from person to person in parts of the United States. The risk of infection with COVID-19 is higher for people who are close contacts of someone known to have COVID-19, for example healthcare workers, or household members. Other people at higher risk for infection are those who live in or have recently been in an area with an ongoing spread of COVID-19. The virus spreads mainly between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet) through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It also may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.

For more information about Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the City of Austin visit our main page at https://austintexas.gov/covid19. This data will be updated daily. To view the case count for the State of Texas, visit Texas DSHS https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/coronavirus/. Please call 3-1-1 (512-974-2000) with questionsLTCF Dashboard (Desktop Version) | LTCF Dashboard (Mobile Version) Download Public Data from the COVID19 Hub: https://atc-covid19data-austin.hub.arcgis.com/

As of April 26, 2023, among adults 18-29 years, the total number of cases of COVID-19 has reached almost 19.48million. This statistic illustrates the total number of cases of COVID-19 in the United States as of April 26, 2023, by age group.

Analysis of ‘United States COVID-19 County Level of Community Transmission as Originally Posted’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/349a4a03-e00c-452c-82d8-3fb1e19855cb on 11 February 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

This public use dataset has 7 data elements reflecting community transmission levels for all available counties. This dataset contains reported daily transmission level at the county level and contains the same values used to display transmission maps on the COVID Data Tracker. Each day, the dataset is appended to contain the most recent day's data. Transmission level is set to low, moderate, substantial, or high using the calculation rules below.

Currently, CDC provides the public with two versions of COVID-19 county-level community transmission level data: this dataset with the levels as originally posted (Originally Posted dataset), updated daily with the most recent day’s data, and an historical dataset with the county-level transmission data from January 1, 2021 (Historical Changes dataset).

Methods for calculating county level of community transmission indicator The County Level of Community Transmission indicator uses two metrics: (1) total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 persons in the last 7 days and (2) percentage of positive SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) in the last 7 days. For each of these metrics, CDC classifies transmission values as low, moderate, substantial, or high (below and here). If the values for each of these two metrics differ (e.g., one indicates moderate and the other low), then the higher of the two should be used for decision-making.

CDC core metrics of and thresholds for community transmission levels of SARS-CoV-2

Total New Case Rate Metric: "New cases per 100,000 persons in the past 7 days" is calculated by adding the number of new cases in the county (or other administrative level) in the last 7 days divided by the population in the county (or other administrative level) and multiplying by 100,000. "New cases per 100,000 persons in the past 7 days" is considered to have a transmission level of Low (0-9.99); Moderate (10.00-49.99); Substantial (50.00-99.99); and High (greater than or equal to 100.00).

Test Percent Positivity Metric: "Percentage of positive NAAT in the past 7 days" is calculated by dividing the number of positive tests in the county (or other administrative level) during the last 7 days by the total number of tests conducted over the last 7 days. "Percentage of positive NAAT in the past 7 days" is considered to have a transmission level of Low (less than 5.00); Moderate (5.00-7.99); Substantial (8.00-9.99); and High (greater than or equal to 10.00).

If the two metrics suggest different transmission levels, the higher level is selected.

Transmission categories include:

Low Transmission Threshold: Counties with fewer than 10 total cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days, and a NAAT percent test positivity in the past 7 days below 5%;

Moderate Transmission Threshold: Counties with 10-49 total cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days or a NAAT test percent positivity in the past 7 days of 5.0-7.99%;

Substantial Transmission Threshold: Counties with 50-99 total cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days or a NAAT test percent positivity in the past 7 days of 8.0-9.99%;

High Transmission Threshold: Counties with 100 or more total cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days or a NAAT test percent positivity in the past 7 days of 10.0% or greater.

Blank : total new cases in the past 7 days are not reported (county data known to be unavailable) and the percentage of positive NAATs tests during the past 7 days (blank) are not reported.

Data Suppression To prevent the release of data tha

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

Note: This COVID-19 data set is no longer being updated as of December 1, 2023. Access current COVID-19 data on the CDPH respiratory virus dashboard (https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Respiratory-Viruses/RespiratoryDashboard.aspx) or in open data format (https://data.chhs.ca.gov/dataset/respiratory-virus-dashboard-metrics).

As of August 17, 2023, data is being updated each Friday.

For death data after December 31, 2022, California uses Provisional Deaths from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) National Vital Statistics System (NVSS). Prior to January 1, 2023, death data was sourced from the COVID-19 registry. The change in data source occurred in July 2023 and was applied retroactively to all 2023 data to provide a consistent source of death data for the year of 2023.

As of May 11, 2023, data on cases, deaths, and testing is being updated each Thursday. Metrics by report date have been removed, but previous versions of files with report date metrics are archived below.

All metrics include people in state and federal prisons, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, US Marshal detention facilities, and Department of State Hospitals facilities. Members of California's tribal communities are also included.

The "Total Tests" and "Positive Tests" columns show totals based on the collection date. There is a lag between when a specimen is collected and when it is reported in this dataset. As a result, the most recent dates on the table will temporarily show NONE in the "Total Tests" and "Positive Tests" columns. This should not be interpreted as no tests being conducted on these dates. Instead, these values will be updated with the number of tests conducted as data is received.

Around 282 thousand new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the United States during the week ending November 11, 2022. Between January 20, 2020 and November 11, 2022 there had been around 96.8 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 with over one million deaths in the U.S. as reported by the World Health Organization.

How did the coronavirus outbreak start? Pneumonia cases with an unknown cause were first reported in the Hubei province of China at the end of December 2019. Patients described symptoms including a fever and difficulty breathing, and early reports suggested no evidence of human-to-human transmission. We now know that a novel coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 is causing the disease COVID-19. The virus has been characterized as a pandemic and continues to spread from person to person – there have been around 642 million cases worldwide as of November 17, 2022.

The importance of isolation and quarantine In an effort to contain the early spread of the virus, China tightened travel restrictions and enforced isolation measures in the hardest-hit areas. The World Health Organization endorsed this strategy, and countries around the world implemented similar quarantine measures. Staying at home can limit the spread of the virus, and this applies to individuals who are only showing mild symptoms or none at all. Asymptomatic carriers of the virus – those that are experiencing no symptoms – may transmit the virus to people who are at a higher risk of getting very sick.

More than 450 public health and clinical laboratories located throughout the United States participate in surveillance for severe acute respiratory virus coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, through CDC's National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS). The dataset contains a weekly summary of aggregate counts of the total SARS-CoV-2 tests and SARS-CoV-2 detections reported to NREVSS since March 14, 2020. These data are reported weekly on a voluntary basis. Clinical laboratories do not report demographic data through NREVSS. Testing practices may vary regionally, and the number of participating laboratories may change from year to year. Results can be changed for up to 2 years after the initial reporting week. However, discrepancies may be noted and updated at the discretion of the data stewards and key stakeholders.

While NREVSS strives to present the most precise estimates of respiratory viral trends with reporting burden minimized for participating laboratories, there are several inherent limitations to this surveillance system.

NREVSS does not collect patient-specific data or demographic information. Multiple samples may be collected from a single patient, so NREVSS results do not necessarily reflect the number of patients tested, nor do they directly reflect hospitalizations or deaths related to COVID-19.

Participating laboratories vary in size, testing capabilities, and areas served. Some institutions may receive and test samples from sites across a given state or even from multiple states. Without direct knowledge of the population base, NREVSS cannot be used to determine the prevalence or incidence of infection.

For more information on NREVSS and COVID-19 surveillance please visit: https://www.cdc.gov/surveillance/nrevss. These data appear starting May 25, 2023 on the CDC COVID Data Tracker at the following URLs: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends ; https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases.

NREVSS data are reported at the national and HHS regional levels. The ten (10) U.S. Department of HHS regions are defined here: https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/iea/regional-offices/index.html.

The data represent SARS-CoV-2 Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT) results, which include reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests from a voluntary, sentinel network of participating laboratories in the United States, including clinical, public health and commercial laboratories (https://www.cdc.gov/surveillance/nrevss/labs/index.html).

These data exclude antigen, antibody, and at-home test results.

All data are provisional and subject to change. Reporting is less complete for the past 1 week, and more complete (>90%) for the period 2 weeks earlier.

There are data from all states across the 10 HHS regions. Because the data are from a sentinel network of laboratories, however, results may vary geographically. The data do not include all test results within a jurisdiction and therefore do not reflect all SARS-CoV-2 NAATs administered in the United States.

Percent positivity is one of the surveillance metrics used to monitor COVID-19 transmission over time and by area. Percent positivity is calculated by dividing the number of positive NAATs by the total number of NAATs administered, then multiplying by 100 [(# of positive NAAT tests / total NAAT tests) x 100].

The data represent laboratory tests performed, not individual (deduplicated) results in people. In the table and upon hovering on the map, the total test counts in the data reflect the latest data reported from NREVSS laboratories and may not match the data presented by various jurisdictions.

On May 11, 2023, CDC discontinued utilizing the COVID electronic laboratory reporting (CELR) platform as the primary laboratory source of COVID-19 results. These data are archived at health.data.gov.

For more information about NREVSS, please see: https://www.cdc.gov/surveillance/nrevss/index.html.

After over two years of public reporting, the Community Profile Report will no longer be produced and distributed after February 2023. The final release will be on February 23, 2023. We want to thank everyone who contributed to the design, production, and review of this report and we hope that it provided insight into the data trends throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Data about COVID-19 will continue to be updated at CDC’s COVID Data Tracker.

The Community Profile Report (CPR) is generated by the Data Strategy and Execution Workgroup in the Joint Coordination Cell, under the White House COVID-19 Team. It is managed by an interagency team with representatives from multiple agencies and offices (including the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, and the Indian Health Service). The CPR provides easily interpretable information on key indicators for all regions, states, core-based statistical areas (CBSAs), and counties across the United States. It is a snapshot in time that: