Johns Hopkins Launches New COVID-19 Testing Insights Initiative

Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD, USA) has launched the COVID-19 Testing Insights Initiative, a one-stop resource hub that fills the void of publicly-available information about COVID-19 testing data and offers critical insights, resources, and expert analysis about COVID-19 testing in the US.

In the coming weeks and months, viral tests for the presence of COVID-19 infection as well as serological tests for antibodies and possible immunity will be critical to measure the spread of the disease. Governments, businesses, and families will rely on data from these tests as well as answers to questions about testing capacity as they make decisions about the path forward. However, local testing data are not currently publicly available, and a comprehensive set of these data—paired with expert analysis and guidance—does not exist in one place. The Testing Insights Initiative aims to fill this void.

Through dynamic, continuously updated data visualizations, the Testing Insights Initiative offers a new, intuitive way to view and understand key data and insights to inform public policies and responses to the pandemic. The new initiative will be housed on the existing Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center webpage, an established resource for the public, policymakers, and the media about COVID-19 that has been viewed more than 400 million times in less than two months and linked to by more than 8,000 other websites.

Visualizations will chart trends in the data and measure testing capacity and results, as well as the efficacy of policy responses in real time. The new initiative will include COVID-19 testing trends for each US state, a tracker following the development and approval of serology tests, and frequently asked questions about COVID-19 testing. Following the initiative's launch, the site will quickly expand to include analyses of countries around the world. The site will be continuously updated as new data become available.

"Through the COVID-19 Testing Insights Initiative, Johns Hopkins will provide the comprehensive view of the testing landscape needed to guide effective policy decisions and shape our collective path to recovery," said Ron Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins University.

"The development and implementation of viral and serological tests are only half the battle," said Jennifer Nuzzo, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "The data from these tests must play a large role in decisions about our future, yet a complete set of these data are not currently publicly available. This initiative will fill that gap and provide essential insights to the public health community."

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