DOI: 10.3886/e243509v1
title: Weekly United States COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by County - ARCHIVED

description: Note:
The cumulative case count for some counties (with small population) is higher than expected due to the inclusion of non-permanent residents in COVID-19 case counts.

Reporting of Aggregate Case and Death Count data was discontinued on 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.

Aggregate Data Collection Process
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, data were reported through a robust process with the following steps:
Aggregate county-level counts were obtained indirectly, via automated overnight web collection, or directly, via a data submission process.
If more than one official county data source existed, CDC used a comprehensive data selection process comparing each official county data source to retrieve the highest case and death counts, unless otherwise specified by the state.
A CDC data team reviewed counts for congruency prior to integration. CDC routinely compiled these data and post the finalized information on COVID Data Tracker.
Cases and deaths are based on date of report and not on the date of symptom onset. CDC calculates rates in this data by using population estimates provided by the US Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (2019 Vintage).
COVID-19 aggregate case and death data were organized in a time series that includes cumulative number of cases and deaths as reported by a jurisdiction on a given date. New case and death counts were calculated as the week-to-week change in reported cumulative cases and deaths (i.e., newly reported cases and deaths = cumulative number of cases/deaths reported this week minus the cumulative total reported the week before.


This process was collaborative, with CDC and jurisdictions working together to ensure the accuracy of COVID-19 case and death numbers. County counts provided the most up-to-date numbers on cases and deaths by report date. Throughout data collection, CDC retrospectively updated counts to correct known data quality issues. CDC also worked with jurisdictions after the end of the public health emergency declaration to finalize county data.

Source: The weekly archived dataset is based on county-level aggregate count data
Confirmed/Probable Cases/Death breakdown: Cumulative cases and deaths for each county are included. Total reported cases include probable and confirmed cases.
Time Series Frequency: The weekly archived dataset contains weekly time series data (i.e., one record per week per county)


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 daily archived dataset noted above. Discrepancies may exist due to differences between county and state COVID-19 case surveillance and reconciliation efforts.

The surveillance case definition for COVID-19, a nationally notifiable disease, was first described in a position statement from the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists, which was later revised. However, there is some variation in how jurisdictions implement these case classifications. More information on how CDC collects COVID-19 case surveillance data can be found at FAQ: COVID-19 Data and Surveillance.

Confirmed and Probable Counts
In this dataset, counts by jurisdiction are not displayed by confirmed or probable status. Instead, counts of confirmed and probable cases and deaths are included in the Total Cases and Total Deaths columns, when available. Not all jurisdictions reported probable cases and deaths to CDC. Confirmed and probable case definition criteria are described here:
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) 2023 Case Definition | CDC
Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (ymaws.com).

Deaths
COVID-19 deaths were reported to CDC from several sources since the beginning of the pandemic including aggregate death data and NCHS Provisional Death Counts. Historic information presented on the COVID Data Tracker pages were based on the same source (Aggregate Data) as the present dataset until the expiration of the public health emergency declaration on May 11, 2023; however, the NCHS Death Counts are based on death certificate data that use information reported by physicians, medical examiners, or coroners in the cause-of-death section of each certificate. Counts from previous weeks were continually revised as more records were received and processed.

Number of Jurisdictions Reporting
There were 60 public health jurisdictions that reported cases and deaths of COVID-19. This included 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. In total there were 3,222 counties for which counts were tracked within the 60 public health jurisdictions.

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

Note:
In early 2020, Alaska enacted changes to their counties/boroughs due to low populations in certain areas:

Case and death counts for Yakutat City and Borough, Alaska, are shown as 0 by default. Case and death counts for Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska, represent total cases and deaths in residents of Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska, and Yakutat City and Borough, Alaska. Case and death counts for Bristol Bay Borough, Alaska, are shown as 0 by default. Case and death counts for Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska, represent total cases and deaths in residents of Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska, and Bristol Bay Borough, Alaska.

Historical cases and deaths are not tracked separately in the county level datasets, and differences in weekly new cases and deaths could exist when county-level data are aggregated to the state-level (i.e., when compared to this dataset: https://data.cdc.gov/Case-Surveillance/United-States-COVID-19-Cases-and-Deaths-by-State-o/9mfq-cb36).
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