---
id: "coronavirus-smarter-crowdsourcing:recommendations/metrics"
type: "GovLab policy recommendation"
title: "Metrics"
url: "https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/recommendations/metrics"
summary: "Governments should establish and use metrics to (1) indicate thresholds where contact tracing is more or less effective as a containment and mitigation strategy; and (2) track progress and effectiveness of ongoing contact tracing programs."
source: "The GovLab (coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org)"
licence: "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
---

# Metrics

Governments should establish and use metrics to (1) indicate thresholds where contact tracing is more or less effective as a containment and mitigation strategy; and (2) track progress and effectiveness of ongoing contact tracing programs.

- Part of: [Smarter Crowdsourcing in the Age of Coronavirus](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/), [all recommendations](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/recommendations)

## Strategy 1

Make raw data available to researchers,public health professionals and epidemiologists. Governments should make disaggregated and,where appropriate,raw data available for modeling and epidemiological analysis. Sharing key process and outcome data with demographic and geographic identifiers allows researchers and public health officials to better predict and respond to the spread of the virus and emerging outbreaks.

- Timeframe: 1-3 Months (immediate)
- Audience: Academia, Vulnerable Populations, Nonprofits
- Type: Research, Data, Partnerships, Vulnerable Populations
- Strategy page: https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/strategies/make-raw-data-available-to-researchers,public-heal

### Actions governments should take (strategy 1)

1. Establish data security protocols for sharing specific levels of de-identified or identifiable data.
2. Create processes that allow individuals with the requisite credentials (e.g. researcher, clinician, public health official) to access data easily and consistently. These individuals should be able to download the data in near real-time for analytical and modeling purposes.

### Examples from around the world (strategy 1)

1. Taiwan took advantage of its pre-existing [National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System](https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/hs.2016.0107) to integrate epidemiologic surveillance for COVID-19 starting in January 2020. The country built a robust contact tracing database with the information it collected from contactants, which allowed researchers to [analyze](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2765641) the data and find correlations to estimate under which conditions contactants are more likely to contract the disease, which then could better inform contact tracing efforts

## Strategy 2

Incentivize adoption of standardized process and outcome measures within jurisdictions (vertical standardization) and across jurisdictions (horizontal standardization) through technical assistance and cost reimbursements or cost sharing. Governments should use legislative,regulatory,and budgetary means to incentivize and/or mandate the adoption of standardized metrics across jurisdictions.

- Timeframe: 3-6 Months (medium)
- Audience: Civil Society, Healthcare Providers, Government Workers, Nonprofits
- Type: Policy/Legislative/Regulatory, Data, Partnerships
- Strategy page: https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/strategies/incentivize-adoption-of-standardized-process-and-o

### Actions governments should take (strategy 2)

1. Conduct an analysis of existing regulatory and legislative mechanisms that may hinder or inhibit collecting, standardizing or reporting on a set of shared process and outcome metrics.
2. Issue temporary executive orders to enable collecting, standardizing and reporting on a set of shared process and outcome metrics while working toward a more durable and long term regulatory and legislative solution.
3. Advocate for and develop new or replacement legislation and regulations that codify collecting, standardizing and reporting on a set of shared process and outcome metrics for communicable diseases, including COVID-19.

### Examples from around the world (strategy 2)

1. In [Germany](https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2522), the national government worked to establish standards and baselines that local administration should follow - such as a minimum of contact tracers per thousand inhabitants, and a threshold for establishing lockdowns - while state health agencies were responsible for collecting and interpreting data, based on the standards set by the national government.

## Strategy 3

Create and publish data dashboards that are updated regularly and show progress on metrics. Governments should develop a dashboard aligned with both the contact tracing platform and surveillance/reportable disease databases.

- Timeframe: 1-3 Months (immediate)
- Audience: Civil Society, Nonprofits
- Type: Data, Communications
- Strategy page: https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/strategies/create-and-publish-data-dashboards-that-are-update

### Actions governments should take (strategy 3)

1. Survey available data tools that integrate with communicable disease databases and contact tracing platforms. Examples include power BI, Esri, or Tableau.
2. Fund and assign a data science team to specifically take charge of public-facing data communications, including the dashboard.
3. Maintain consistent reporting and regular updating of the dashboard to build trust and confidence with the public.

### Examples from around the world (strategy 3)

1. Taking advantage of pre-existing data sharing frameworks and the integration of the Brazilian Unified Healthcare System (SUS), the state of Ceara has standardized and unified its health metrics and indicators in a single [portal](https://indicadores.integrasus.saude.ce.gov.br/indicadores/indicadores-coronavirus). This makes it quick and easy to compare the evolution of different metrics and evaluate measures taken. The local collection of data also insures much of it can be disaggregated by sex, gender, age, ethnicity and location.

## Strategy 4

Commit to carefully selected metrics that can be reported on consistently and regularly (do not select too many metrics). Governments should be cautious to select a small number of useful and informative metrics that can be reported on consistently,precisely,and accurately. Committing to too many metrics may lead to the inability to accurately and precisely track the data.

- Timeframe: 3-6 Months (medium)
- Audience: Healthcare Providers, Government Workers
- Type: Policy/Legislative/Regulatory, Data
- Strategy page: https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/strategies/commit-to-carefully-selected-metrics-that-can-be-r

### Actions governments should take (strategy 4)

1. Review existing databases and data collection processes and only select metrics that can be reported on consistently and regularly.

### Examples from around the world (strategy 4)

1. [In Germany, the national government worked to establish standards and baselines that local administration should follow - such as a minimum of contact tracers per thousand inhabitants, and a threshold for establishing lockdowns - while state health agencies were responsible for collecting and interpreting data, based on the standards set by the national government.](https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2522)