COVID-19 emergency shows limitations of nationwide data sharing infrastructure

Private initiatives are utilizing patient data to map the spread of COVID-19 and provide crucial information to health researchers. These efforts aim to better understand the virus, its effects, and strategies for prevention. However, public health and federal programs are relying on manual data collection, which is often incomplete and lacks key demographic information. Initiatives like UCSF Health Atlas and Cotiviti’s COVID-19 Outbreak Tracker are offering visual mapping tools to analyze infection rates and predict outbreaks. Other projects, such as SADA Systems and HCA Healthcare’s National Response Portal, aim to track disease hotspots and provide real-time data to hospitals and communities.