The COVID Tracking Project

What The COVID Tracking Project does

The COVID Tracking Project was a volunteer-run, non-profit initiative operated by The Atlantic Monthly Group that aggregated the most complete publicly available dataset on COVID-19 in the United States during the pandemic. Founded in 2020 and active until March 7, 2021, the project tracked more than 363 million tests, 28.7 million cases, and 515,000 deaths by manually collecting and publishing state-by-state testing, case, hospitalization, and mortality data at a time when official federal sources were inconsistent or incomplete.

The project delivered data through three primary channels: a public-facing web interface, an API, and downloadable CSV files. A workforce of over 800 volunteers performed the underlying data collection and validation, supported by editorial infrastructure from The Atlantic. The dataset was referenced in over 1,000 academic papers and 7,700 news stories, and was used operationally by two presidential administrations, the CDC, HHS, and the FDA. Following the end of active data collection, the project entered a long-term archival partnership with UC San Francisco to preserve the dataset.

The business model was non-commercial: all data was provided free to the public, researchers, journalists, and government agencies. The project earned no revenue from API access, licensing, or premium tiers. Operational funding flowed through The Atlantic Monthly Group, and the project received recognition from the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Awards, and NYU Journalism awards. The initiative is now in archival mode and is no longer collecting new data.

Name

The COVID Tracking Project

Legal name

The Atlantic Monthly Group

Website

https://covidtracking.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

The COVID Tracking Project was a volunteer-run, non-profit initiative under The Atlantic that aggregated the most complete publicly available US COVID-19 data from 2020 to March 2021, serving journalists, researchers, federal agencies, and the public via free web, API, and CSV access.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Health Data Platform

NAICS

Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Syndromic Surveillance & Early Warning Systems (HLAJABAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance & Coverage Monitoring (HLAJABAK), Syndromic & Event-Based Surveillance (HLAJANAC)

Keywords

• Public health data
• Disease surveillance data
• Epidemiological tracking
• Pandemic data aggregation
• Health information services

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Non-profit public service (no revenue): The COVID Tracking Project was a volunteer initiative operated by The Atlantic, providing free public health data. No commercial revenue model existed; the project was funded as a public service journalism effort.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The COVID Tracking Project was a volunteer-run data aggregation initiative that collected, standardized, and published comprehensive COVID-19 testing, case, hospitalization, and death data across all US states and territories. Data was made available to the public free of charge through an interactive website, a public Data API, and CSV downloads, with specialized trackers for race/ethnicity, long-term-care facilities, and hospital capacity.

Product overview

The COVID Tracking Project was a volunteer-run data aggregation platform that collected and published comprehensive COVID-19 data for the United States. The core offering consisted of a unified data platform providing multiple integrated modules: the main Data Platform served as the central hub, while specialized dashboards included the National Totals Dashboard, COVID Racial Data Tracker, Long-Term-Care Data Tracker, and Hospital Facilities Data. Users could access data through interactive visualizations (Data Charts), programmatic interfaces (Data API), or downloadable datasets (Data Download). Data by State provided jurisdiction-level detail. The project ceased collecting new data as of March 7, 2021, with the archive remaining available through federal data resources.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• COVID Tracking Project Data Platform Volunteer-run data aggregation platform collecting and publishing the most complete COVID-19 data in the United States, covering testing, cases, hospitalizations, and deaths across all states and territories, for use by media, government, researchers, and the public.
• Data by State Individual state and territory data pages providing detailed COVID-19 metrics including cases, tests, hospitalizations, outcomes, long-term-care facility data, and race & ethnicity statistics for each US jurisdiction.
• National Totals Dashboard Aggregated US-wide COVID-19 data dashboard displaying total cases, total tests, current hospitalizations, and deaths with historical trends and 7-day averages.
• COVID Racial Data Tracker Dedicated dashboard tracking how COVID-19 has disproportionately affected Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other people of color, with cases and deaths per capita data by race and ethnicity.
• Long-Term-Care Data Tracker Data tracker monitoring COVID-19 impact on nursing homes and long-term-care facilities, including facility-level data, cases, deaths, and vaccination data through the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program.
• Hospital Facilities Data Interactive map and data visualization of hospital capacity and COVID-19 patient impact data sourced from HHS, showing hospitalization rates across facilities.
• Data Charts Visual charting tool displaying COVID-19 trends including new tests, new cases, current hospitalizations, and new deaths with 90-day historical views and 7-day averages.
• Data API

Quantifiable outcome

• Tracked 363+ million tests, 28.7+ million cases, and 515,000+ deaths
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• The Atlantic Monthly GroupcoreOthers · 1 March 2020The COVID Tracking Project was operated as an initiative of The Atlantic Monthly Group. The Atlantic provided hosting, infrastructure, and editorial support for the volunteer data collection effort. The project was affiliated with The Atlantic but operated largely by volunteers.
• UC San Francisco ArchivemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFollowing the project's conclusion on March 7, 2021, UC San Francisco archived the project's work, ensuring long-term preservation of this critical pandemic data collection effort for future research and historical documentation.
• Reveal NewsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership to produce a podcast series documenting the project's work and the challenges of collecting COVID-19 data during the pandemic.
• HHS (Department of Health and Human Services)majorOthersFederal agency that utilized the project's data for pandemic response. The project also incorporated HHS hospitalization data (HHS data published on healthdata.gov) into their datasets.
• CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)majorOthersFederal agency that used the project's aggregated state-level data as a supplement to their own COVID-19 surveillance efforts during periods of inconsistent federal data collection.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights1 record

Direct peers

• Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center: Johns Hopkins University's COVID-19 dashboard was the most widely cited global pandemic tracker during 2020–2023. It is directly comparable as a parallel academic/aggregator COVID data initiative operating alongside The COVID Tracking Project.
• Our World in Data: Our World in Data's COVID-19 section aggregated testing, case, hospitalization, and vaccination data globally and was frequently cross-referenced with US state-level sources. It is comparable as a public-interest data aggregation and visualization platform serving researchers and journalists.
• Worldometer: Worldometer operated a widely used real-time COVID-19 case and death counter during the pandemic, drawing from multiple official sources. It is comparable as an independent public data aggregation site for pandemic statistics.

Others

• The Atlantic: The Atlantic Monthly Group is the host organization that provided infrastructure, editorial support, and operational sponsorship for the project. It is comparable as the parent media brand whose journalism credibility and audience helped amplify the initiative.

Emerging players

• BNO News: BNO News maintained one of the earliest independent global COVID-19 case trackers and provided real-time alerts used by media. It is comparable as a smaller news-driven aggregation initiative that complemented official sources.
• Rt.live (COVID Act Now): COVID Act Now (which absorbed rt.live) provided state-level COVID risk metrics and projections widely cited by media and policymakers. It is comparable as a state-by-state pandemic analytics project with overlapping audience and use cases.
• 1Point3Acres: 1Point3Acres ran a volunteer-built US COVID-19 dashboard with state-level granularity during the pandemic. It is comparable as a community-led public data initiative serving the same researcher, journalist, and informed-public audience.

Broad incumbents

• CDC COVID Data Tracker: The CDC's official COVID Data Tracker is the federal incumbent in the same surveillance and reporting space. The COVID Tracking Project explicitly supplemented inconsistent CDC data, making it a directly comparable but broader institutional counterpart.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/COVID19Tracking
• GitHubgithub.com/COVID19Tracking
• Instagraminstagram.com/covidtrackingproject

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The COVID Tracking Project