Ontario COVID-19 Data Tool: What’s in it for you?

Access to data is critical in any public health situation. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted just how paramount access to data is in the prevention and management of transmissible diseases. Since March 2020 people around the world have developed a deeper interest in epidemiological issues and data, so now more than ever creating user-friendly tools that bring data to life for people is critical. To facilitate sharing of information and to keep Ontarians up-to-date on COVID-19 activity in the province, in April 2020 Public Health Ontario (PHO) launched our interactive Ontario COVID-19 data tool. The tool, easily accessible on our website, is a comprehensive source of important epidemiological information about COVID-19 and supplements our surveillance reports. Ultimately this information supports local, provincial, federal and global surveillance efforts.

What information is captured in the tool?

Updated daily, the tool allows users to view summarized COVID-19 data through a series of visuals that show trends for the province as a whole or for specific sub-populations. The 11 sections can be broken down by Public Health Unit (PHU) and include daily case counts, deaths and hospitalizations, trends over time and by age and sex, outbreaks by setting (long-term care home, hospitals, and education and childcare, etc.), acquisition (likely source of infection) and COVID-19 reproduction data.

On September 23 we made some enhancements to the tool:

• Interactive map: Provides both recent and cumulative cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and vaccination counts by PHU, so it’s easy to find out statistics for your area. New features include information on individuals vaccinated as a percentage of the vaccine-eligible population (aged 12+) and individuals vaccinated as a percentage the total provincial population.
• Vaccination trends: Shows trends in the number of Ontarians vaccinated over time by age group and public health unit, and the number of doses administered over time by dose number, vaccine product and vaccination setting.
• Reproduction numbers: Shows trends in the COVID-19 reproduction number and doubling time for each PHU, and data can now be compared to Ontario and other PHUs.
• Interactive case trends: Shows trends in case counts and rates over time and in COVID-19 mutation and variant of concern case counts and rates over time, for Ontario and PHUs.
• Interactive outbreak trends: Shows trends in the total number of ongoing (open) outbreaks in Ontario by outbreak setting and PHU.
• You can also download aggregate and pre-analyzed data directly from the tool.

Why this information is important

Access to COVID-19 data provides a strong foundation to understanding how the virus is spread, managed, and prevented. Data plays a key role in managing risks as a public health situation evolves, and provides scientific evidence for informed decision making and creation of public health policies to protect the population.

For questions or more information please contact PHO.Communications@oahpp.ca.