From 5Vs to 6Cs: Operationalizing Epidemic Data Management with COVID-19 Surveillance

Area of Science:

• Epidemiology and Public Health
• Data Science and Visualization
• Web Application Development

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for accessible spatio-temporal disease surveillance data visualization.
• Existing web application dashboards (JHU, WHO, CDC) offered niche views, necessitating a more comprehensive solution.

Approach:

• Developed a COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard providing a universal, user-focused view of near-real-time data.
• Integrated advanced features for data manipulation: zooming, filtering, categorizing, and multi-time series visualization.
• Proposed the '6Cs standard' for designing and evaluating real-time epidemic science dashboards.

Key Points:

• The dashboard offers a universal yet detailed perspective on the pandemic's progression.
• It facilitates comparison, organization, and tracking of surveillance data.
• The '6Cs standard' provides a framework for future dashboard development and assessment.

Conclusions:

• The developed dashboard is a highly utilized resource supporting public health authorities and global users.
• It demonstrates utility in data storytelling for understanding pandemic evolution and informing response strategies.
• The dashboard serves as a model for effective real-time epidemic surveillance visualization.