Text CONTAINCOVID to 50409 to request that your State legislators and Governor prioritize testing, tracing, and mask usage.

Data updated weekly. Any missing/incorrect data? Please email us.

Note: NYC reports separately from NY State and per the Mayor’s office, they have enough staff to trace 5,000 cases per day. You can view NYC’s data here.

We have compiled and synthesized key Test and Trace data for each state so that it can be objectively measured whether each state is prepared to be successful with a test and trace program today.

The grading scale is based upon the knowledge that:
1. Countries with successful test and trace programs have less than 3% positive tests (meaning that they have enough testing capabilities to test aggressively)
2. Test results must be ready in less than two days to effectively contact trace
3. A state needs ~5-15 contact tracers per daily positive test (contact tracers interview infected patients about who they’ve had close contact with, and then call those people to help them get tested and quarantined).

Overall Grading Scale: Conducted on a 6 point scale with a 6/6 meaning that a state meets the necessary testing availability and tracing team size benchmarks to successfully test and trace.

Testing Grades:
3 points for under 3% positive tests
2 point for 3-5.5% positive tests
1 point for 5.5-8% positive tests
0 points if over 8% positive tests

Tracing Grades:
3 points for 5-15+ tracers per daily positive case
2 points for 2.5-5 tracers per daily positive case
1 point for 1-2.5 tracers per daily positive case
0 points for under 1 tracer per daily positive case

Data sources:

1. Our own outreach and direct contact with state health departments. 
2. NPR’s contact tracing tracking initiative
3. Covid Tracking Project

Notes:

1. States count contact tracing hires differently so we’ve done our best to separate full time hires versus volunteers when collecting hiring information. On a number basis, we’re counting volunteers as 1/4 of a full-time hire.

List of States included in this page:

Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Minor Outlying Islands, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming