Ensuring a Data-Driven Response to COVID-19 and Future High-Consequence Public Health Threats
Federal Agencies Ordered to Share and Publish COVID-19 Data
What it does
Federal agencies must designate senior data leads and share, publish, and review COVID-19-related data, public health systems, and hiring needs.
Real-world impact
- Makes COVID-19 data more publicly available and machine-readable.
- Gives state, local, Tribal, and territorial officials better data for decisions.
- Prompts agencies to review hiring and data practices supporting pandemic response.
Topics
Summary
This order requires federal departments and agencies to collect, share, and publish COVID-19-related data and to designate senior officials to lead those efforts. It also directs reviews of public health data systems, hiring capacity for IT and data roles, and government open-data practices, with guidance on de-identifying information.
The actions affect federal agencies, state, local, Tribal, and territorial authorities, and the public that relies on pandemic information.
The goal is to improve detection, decision-making, and public understanding while protecting privacy and national-security information.
Questions, answered
Ask questions about this executive order and its implications. Try:
- “What agencies are affected by this order?”
- “How does this order change existing policy?”
- “What are the practical implications of this order?”