nyt-covid / README.md
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Initial ingest — nyt-covid — card update
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metadata
pretty_name: NYT COVID-19  US county daily
license: other
size_categories:
  - 1M<n<10M
tags:
  - cadence-daily
  - geo-us
  - surveillance-respiratory
  - pathogen-sars-cov-2
  - tier-3
  - availability-open
schema_version: '0.1'
source_id: nyt-covid
source_url: https://github.com/nytimes/covid-19-data
manifest_section: §16.5
surveillance_category: respiratory
pathogens:
  - sars-cov-2
availability: open
availability_notes: >-
  NYT custom license — non-commercial use ok, commercial use requires
  permission.
access_type: github
tier: 3
cadence: daily
geography_levels:
  - subnational-county
geography_countries:
  - US
gold_standard_for: []
vintaged_version_of: null
succeeds: null
derived_from: []
value_columns:
  - name: cases
    unit: cases (cumulative)
    value_type: cumulative
    description: Cumulative confirmed + probable COVID-19 cases since pandemic start
    aggregation: max
  - name: deaths
    unit: deaths (cumulative)
    value_type: cumulative
    description: Cumulative confirmed + probable COVID-19 deaths since pandemic start
    aggregation: max
notes:
  extra_columns:
    - column: location_name
      description: >-
        NYT-supplied county + state name. Useful for traceability when a FIPS
        code resolves ambiguously (e.g. NYC's five boroughs collapsed into a
        single 'New York City' row).
  interpretation_caveats:
    - column: cases
      caveat: >
        Cumulative — diff to recover incident. NYT collapses the five NYC
        boroughs (FIPS 36005, 36047, 36061, 36081, 36085)

        into a synthetic 'New York City' row that this ingest **drops** (no
        FIPS). Pre-2020-08 some rural counties were

        bundled with neighbours; the README documents the carve-outs.
  general: >
    Archived March 2023. Useful as an early-pandemic baseline at county
    granularity

    when nothing finer than state was available from federal sources.
extra:
  source_columns_omitted: 0
  archive_note: >-
    Series stops 2023-03-23; the upstream maintained the file but no longer
    updates it.
computed:
  last_ingested: '2026-04-26T12:49:03Z'
  row_count: 2479154
  time_coverage:
    - start: '2020-01-21'
      end: '2022-05-13'
  geography_unit_count: 3220
  observed_cadence_days: 1
  missing_gaps: []
  data_hash: a040b3fa14225d93

NYT COVID-19 — US county daily

Archived March 2023. Useful as an early-pandemic baseline at county granularity when nothing finer than state was available from federal sources.

Source: https://github.com/nytimes/covid-19-data

Coverage

  • Time: 2020-01-21 → 2022-05-13
  • Cadence: daily (observed median spacing: 1 days)
  • Geography levels: subnational-county — 3220 unique location IDs
  • Countries: US
  • Pathogens: sars-cov-2
  • Surveillance category: respiratory
  • Rows: 2,479,154

Columns

Column Unit value_type Aggregation Description
cases cases (cumulative) cumulative max Cumulative confirmed + probable COVID-19 cases since pandemic start
deaths deaths (cumulative) cumulative max Cumulative confirmed + probable COVID-19 deaths since pandemic start

Additional data columns

  • location_name — NYT-supplied county + state name. Useful for traceability when a FIPS code resolves ambiguously (e.g. NYC's five boroughs collapsed into a single 'New York City' row).

Interpretation caveats

Things that may differ from how other sources define a similar measure. If you're combining this dataset with another, read these first.

  • cases — Cumulative — diff to recover incident. NYT collapses the five NYC boroughs (FIPS 36005, 36047, 36061, 36081, 36085) into a synthetic 'New York City' row that this ingest drops (no FIPS). Pre-2020-08 some rural counties were bundled with neighbours; the README documents the carve-outs.

Access

  • Availability: open
  • Access type: github
  • License: other
  • Tier: 3

Schema version 0.1 · Last ingested 2026-04-26T12:49:03Z · source_id: nyt-covid · Manifest section §16.5