On May 13, CDC announced a new partnership with the Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (Esri) that will make it easier for states to build new, or enhance existing, publicly available COVID-19 data dashboards. State and local decisions about changes to community mitigation measures will require easy access to transparent information about local conditions. This partnership launches a project to ensure that all states can provide their own data in this way to their constituents. The project will roll out in phases over the next six weeks.

Using Florida’s dashboard as a model, Esri will work with states to create or enhance map-based dashboards, with a focus on visualizing state supplied data. Based on review of current state practices, critical data to display are cases, deaths, tests and hospitalization counts and trends. Esri is also available to work with all states to expand their dashboards to include additional data that the states choose, such as outbreak information or analysis by racial and ethnic groups. Esri estimates that this work will take 1-3 weeks per state and that CDC’s contract will fully cover the costs.

CDC recognizes the enormous challenges state health departments face in responding to this unprecedented public health threat. We pledge to leverage our federal role and resources appropriated by the U.S. Congress to assist you as you respond to outbreaks in your state, prevent continued spread of COVID-19 in your communities, and advise your elected officials as they make decisions about when and how to employ mitigation strategies. Implementing innovative technology solutions can help ensure we all have the best available data to inform our response and that the public we serve can understand the impact of the disease in their communities.