As communities and businesses across Connecticut continue their ongoing battle with the Covid-19 pandemic, an initial look at excess deaths underscores the destruction this public health crisis has left in its wake. Excess deaths are deaths that occurred above and beyond what would be expected in an average year. In other words, the number of excess deaths is a measure of the temporary increase in the mortality rate of a population. To understand the relationship between Covid-19 and excess deaths, we compared the actual death toll in 2020 to the average of death tolls from the past 5 years, using data from the CT Department of Public Health (CT DPH). To learn more, continue reading or download a pdf version of our findings.
Read MoreThis year’s conference explores the intersection of equity and ethics in data to help data users in Connecticut integrate these principles and practices into our daily data work.
Read MoreOur new Covid-19 Dashboard is now live, updated with a cleaner interface and new visualizations! The visualizations in our previous dashboard were both important and relevant in the early months of the pandemic, and, while they remain important, they are becoming less relevant in today’s conversations. We designed this dashboard to align with evolving data needs as the pandemic continues.
Read MoreThe availability of Covid-19 data can vary by location, demographics, and capacity. A Google search can quickly provide information like the number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths at the local, state, and national levels, and also economic numbers like unemployment rates and job loss. But when it comes to understanding how the virus might impact different communities, that information can be harder to find because sometimes it’s not being collected or publicly disseminated.
Read MoreAs we’ve spoken with people during the last couple of months about census outreach, one theme has become clear: many people still have hesitations about completing their 2020 Census questionnaires. Reasons include not realizing that the census brings funding to their community, feeling doubtful that funding would be distributed, or reluctance to provide personal information to the federal government.
Read MoreCovid-19. Pandemic. Stimulus payment. Unemployment. Reopening.
These are some of the phrases echoed throughout conversations with friends, family, colleagues, doctors, scientists, and government officials since March. Our knowledge regarding Covid-19 has evolved over the past five months, yet uncertainty continues to linger.
Read MoreA lot is going on in our lives right now, but we hope you will take 5 minutes to join us to support a fair and accurate census count. Like you, we at CTData care about an accurate count in Census 2020. There is funding, representation, and data at stake. We are concerned that the U.S. Census Bureau has recently shortened the timeline for the decennial count and that Congress isn’t funding census operations at a level that meets the needs in Connecticut and other states.
We’re excited to share some good news during these challenging times! CTData received the 2020 Connecticut Entrepreneur Award for Education, earning the top spot in community voting for this category.
Read MoreTurn on any news outlet and data privacy and accuracy sit at the forefront of the conversation. No organization is too small or too large to outwit potential privacy breaches, not even the federal government.
Read MoreHealth care, the economy, major events, our day-to-day lives—Covid-19 has spared nothing on its path of disruption. Even the census had to adjust its 230-year-old process to prioritize the health and safety of census takers (workers) and respondents.
Read MoreAs Connecticut businesses begin to open their doors, new business registrations in the state have been steadily rising for the past 12 weeks. When comparing data from 2019 to 2020, new business registrations are higher now than in the same week of 2019. Though most weeks have lagged behind 2019, with Week 12 (the week of March 22, 2020) being the lowest, 2020 registrations began passing 2019 in the past few weeks.
Read More“How are you?” This seemingly standard question has become increasingly hard to answer. Every day, we see or experience the horrific implications surrounding Covid-19 whether it’s death rates, rising confirmed cases, skyrocketing job loss, or simply not being able to hug a friend or family member. We can’t fully understand the health and wellbeing of our residents during this time without examining mental health. In this analysis, we look at how different populations in Connecticut are faring when it comes to mental health.
Read MoreOn June 10, 2020, a data community of practice met virtually. This group is made up of Connecticut data creators and users. We gathered to talk about equity and ethics in our data work, especially amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read MoreTo help promote statewide data transparency, we developed the Connecticut Quasi-Public Organization Data Portal in partnership with the Office of the State Comptroller.
Read MoreCTData stands in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. We condemn police violence and racism.
Read MoreAs the response rate in Connecticut nears 65%, our recent analysis shows that there are still many tracts that are struggling to increase their self-response rates. While we don’t typically think about the world around us as census tracts, they allow us to really focus our efforts on encouraging people to be counted in very specific areas.
There are two tools you will learn about in this post. First is the U.S. Census Bureau’s own Response Rates map. The second is the Census 2020 Hard to Count Map. I use both for different purposes, and by the end of this post, you will be using them, too.
Read MoreDoes your town or your organization need business listings, such as restaurants and hair salons, to assist with Covid-19 state reopening?
CTData can help! Reach out to info@ctdata.org and let us know what you’re looking for.
In the meantime, take a look at Hartford’s lists of barbershops & restaurants which CTData was able to put together using state licensing data, SOTS business registrations, and Yelp.
Read MoreOur analysis of Census 2020 self-response rates in Connecticut by tract with demographic characteristics found that many tracts in Connecticut are struggling with their self-response rate. These include rates lower than Connecticut’s average among our major cities, tracts with over 50% Hispanic or black residents, tracts with fewer home-owners and more multi-family homes, tracts that received bilingual census mailings, and tracts with less Internet access. Learn more about the details and resources you can access to support these tracts.
Read MoreData shouldn’t be confined to a spreadsheet. Don’t get us wrong—we love a good spreadsheet as much as the next data person, but when endless rows and columns of data overwhelms rather than informs, it’s not serving its highest purpose to help improve outcomes and inspire change.
Read More