United States COVID-19 County Policy Database, 2020-2021 (ICPSR 39109)

Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)

Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection

Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

The objective of the U.S. COVID-19 County Policy (UCCP) Database was to systematically gather, characterize, and assess geographic and longitudinal variation in U.S. COVID-19-related policies at the county and state levels.

Study Design View help for Study Design

Between January 2020 and December 2021, the research team gathered data each week on COVID-19 related policies. Primary data sources included social media (Facebook, X/Twitter) captures from public officials, local and county government offices, transportation authorities, and school districts; news articles; official public documents (e.g., executive orders, guidelines, press releases) through government websites; and other compiled COVID-19 policy databases. Modeling the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, data were collected on 26 policies within three overarching domains: 1) containment and closure, 2) economic support, and 3) public health. Policies not applicable to counties were excluded. Additional policies on social services that may impact health (e.g., housing and nutrition support) were included. For each policy, standardized scoring criteria were determined to assess the comprehensiveness of the policy.

Sample View help for Sample

To achieve the goal of broad national coverage while ensuring that counties with high proportions of marginalized populations, the research team randomly sampled 269 counties from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. There was no intent to create a nationally representative sample with respect to any county characteristics.

First, the team stratified counties based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), oversampling counties with more vulnerable populations by including those above the median value of the SVI (0.5) at a rate of 2:1 relative to lower-SVI counties. From each stratum, probability-proportional to size (PPS) sampling was implemented so that more populous counties had a greater probability of inclusion. These two steps were repeated until a sample was achieved that included at least one county in each state and greater than or equal to 10 percent rural or non-metropolitan counties.

The collected sample of 269 counties was supplemented with a prior sample of 40 counties selected based on a sample of patients in the U.S. COVID Citizen Science Study (funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, or PCORI). In total, 309 total counties were included in the final database.

Time Method View help for Time Method

Universe View help for Universe

Policies and/or programs related to COVID-19 implemented in the United States during the study timeframe.

Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation

Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

For each of the 25 policy items, the dataset includes the original rating for a policy within a county, the original rating for the corresponding state, the imputed value if there was no information available to determine the policy in place, and an indicator reflecting the imputation status of county policies. Higher rating values equal greater levels of restrictions or comprehensiveness. Summary measures include counts of policies in place and a comprehensive score for each of the three policy domains. (Please refer to the study documentation for further details on ratings and interpretation.) When available, primary source URLs are included for each policy item for reference.

Additional variables include start and end date of the data collection week and geographic identifiers such as state, county, FIPS codes, largest city in the county, and largest school district in the county.

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2024-06-11

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