API Updates
Updates to the API will be reflected here.
Sunsetting Demographic Vaccine Data#
2023-01-11
Unlike the other data in our API, county-level demographic vaccine data is not actively quality assured, and as such, we cannot guarantee that it is of high quality.
We will continue to provide this data until 02/15/2023, at which point we will remove it from the API. Please reach out to data@covidactnow.org with any concerns or questions.
CDC Community Level data now available#
Added on 2022-04-05
The CDC Community Level metric as well as the subcomponents of the CDC Community Level metric are now available within the Covid Act Now API.
Learn more about how the CDC Community Level is measured.
Fields added:
communityLevels.cdcCommunityLevel: The raw CDC Community Level metric. It serves as an exact mirror of the CDC’s published data, which is available for counties only and typically updates once a week.communityLevels.canCommunityLevel: The Covid Act Now team’s version of CDC Community Level metric. It uses the same methodology as the CDC community level, but it is available for states and metros in addition to counties. It also uses different data sources in some cases (New York Times for cases, HHS for state hospitalization data). It updates daily, though county hospitalization data only updates once a week.metrics.weeklyNewCasesPer100k: The number of new COVID cases per week per 100K population.metrics.weeklyCovidAdmissionsPer100k: The number of new COVID hospital admissions per week per 100K population. For counties this is calculated at the Health Service Area level.metrics.bedsWithCovidPatientsRatio: The ratio of staffed inpatient beds that are occupied by COVID patients. For counties this is calculated at the Health Service Area level.actuals.hospitalBeds.weeklyCovidAdmissions: The number of new COVID hospital admissions per week.actuals.hsaHospitalBeds.weeklyCovidAdmissions: The number of new COVID hospital admissions per week measured at the Health Service Area level.hsaName: The name of the Health Service Area.hsaPopulation: The population of the Health Service Area.hsaHospitalBeds: This is a mirror of the existing hospitalBeds field, but measured at the Health Service Area level.hsaIcuBeds: This is a mirror of the existing icuBeds field, but measured at the Health Service Area level.
Vaccine Booster data now available#
Added on 2022-01-13
Vaccine booster shot (or additional dose) data is now available within the Covid Act Now API.
Fields added:
actuals.vaccinationsAdditionalDose: Number of individuals who are fully vaccinated and have received a booster (or additional) dose.metrics.vaccinationsAdditionalDoseRatio: Ratio of population that are fully vaccinated and have received a booster (or additional) dose.
ICU Headroom and Typical Usage Rate removed#
Added on 2021-09-16
The following deprecated fields have been removed from the API:
icuHeadroomRatio, icuHeadroomDetails, and typicalUsageRate. Consider using
icuCapacityRatio instead.
CDC Community Transmission Levels#
Added on 2021-07-30
We now expose a CDC Community Transmission Level in the API.
The CDC community transmission levels are similar to the Covid Act Now risk levels, but have slightly different thresholds. See definitions of CDC community transmission levels for more details.
We calculate the level using the CDC's thresholds and expose it in the field
cdcTransmissionLevel in all API responses.
The values correspond to the following levels:
| API value | CDC community transmission level |
|---|---|
| 0 | Low |
| 1 | Moderate |
| 2 | Substantial |
| 3 | High |
| 4 | Unknown |
Note that the value may differ from what the CDC website reports given we have different data sources. We have also introduced an "Unknown" level for when both case data and test positivity data are missing for at least 15 days. The CDC does not have an "Unknown" level and instead will designate a location as "Low" when case and test positivity data are missing.
Aggregated US data#
Added on 2021-03-31
You can now query US aggregated data.
Vaccine demographic data#
Added on 2021-03-25
We are now starting to include vaccine demographic data; currently we are collecting two fields: actuals.vaccinesAdministeredDemographics and actuals.vaccinationsInitiatedDemographics. While we currently only have county level data in TX and PA (as of 3/25) we are working on adding more regions to provide the most complete vaccine demographic data.
Note that demographic buckets may differ by jurisdiction as different states may collect and bucket demographic data in different ways. We surface the buckets as collected for now but this may change in the future.
Vaccines administered#
Added on 2021-03-23
Added actuals.vaccinesAdministered to the API. This represents the total number of doses
administered for a region.
New deaths column#
Added on 2021-03-08
Added actuals.newDeaths and actualsTimeseries.*.newDeaths to the API.
The processing is similar to actuals.newCases - newDeaths represent new deaths
since previous report with erratic values removed by outlier detection.
Field level annotations#
Added on 2021-01-19
The Annotations field has a FieldAnnotations for each field in Actuals. You can now access the
data source(s) used to produce a field and list of dates where an anomalous observation was removed.
The exact structure of the AnomalyAnnotation may be modified in the future.
Vaccine data now available#
Added on 2021-01-14
Vaccine data is now available within the Covid Act Now API.
Currently the data is available for states only, but county-level vaccination data is coming soon.
Fields added:
vaccinesDistributed: Total number of vaccine doses distributed.vaccinationsInitiated: Total number of people initiating vaccination. For a vaccine with a 2-dose regimen, this represents the first dose.vaccinationsCompleted: Total number of people completing vaccination - currently those completing their second shot.vaccinationsInitiatedRatio: Ratio of population that has initiated vaccination.vaccinationsCompletedRatio: Ratio of population that has completed vaccination.
You can access these fields in both the actuals field and actualsTimeseries fields.
View entire timeseries of risk levels for all regions#
Added on 2020-12-22
You can now view the history of a region's overall risk level in all timeseries endpoints under the
key riskLevelsTimeseries.
Overall risk level now based on 3 key metrics#
Added on 2020-12-22
The overall risk level is now based on caseDensity, testPositivityRatio, and infectionRate.
Learn more about the changes we made.
We will be continuing to calculate all metrics and have no plans of removing
contactTracingCapacityRatio, icuCapacityRatio, or icuHeadroomRatio at this time.
Link to Covid Act Now website#
Added on 2020-12-03
Each region now includes a field url that points to the Covid Act Now location page
for that region.
Upcoming risk level update#
Added on 2020-12-01
We modified our risk levels to include a 5th level on covidactnow.org for locations experiencing a severe outbreak. On Monday, December 7th we will be updating the risk levels in the API to reflect this.
If you have any code depending on 4 risk levels, you will need to update it to include the fifth risk level.
This change directly affects the fields riskLevels.overall and riskLevels.caseDensity.
If you would like to include the new risk level right now to reflect what
is currently on covidactnow.org, you can do so by
classifying both overall and caseDensity risk as extreme for any location
where actuals.casesDensity > 75.
Query by CBSA#
Added on 2020-11-09
We added core-based statistical area endpoints to the API.
You can now view results aggregated by CBSA:
Read the CBSA API Documentation to learn more.
Increase county test positivity coverage#
Added on 2020-11-04
We increased our test positivity coverage for counties by adding in data from U.S. Department of Health & Human Services as aggregated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. See our data sources for more information.
Add new cases field with outlier detection#
Added on 2020-10-29
In addition to cumulative case counts, we added a New Cases field to all
actuals and actualsTimeseries values. The New Cases field computes new
cases and applies outlier detection to remove erratic case values.
Add locationId field#
Added on 2020-10-27
Adds a generic location ID used to represent regions. Will allow for greater flexibility as we add more aggregation levels (such as country).
Add riskLevels#
Added on 2020-10-15
Added risk levels as seen on covidactnow.org to the API.