The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) announced Connecticut is among the first states sharing data through the new U.S. Disease Tracker (USDT), a national platform monitoring vaccine-preventable diseases.
The tracker, created by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), and Johns Hopkins University, initially tracks measles, invasive meningococcal disease, and pertussis at the state and substate level, with mumps, varicella, hepatitis A, mpox, and influenza-associated pediatric mortality planned in coming months.
Connecticut is one of 10 states sharing data weekly, alongside Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, and Tennessee, with more than 25 additional states and territories committed to join. The tracker launches as measles cases reach their highest levels nationally in over three decades, amid declining childhood vaccination rates.
DPH Commissioner Manisha Juthani, M.D., said, "Connecticut's participation reflects our ongoing commitment to transparency and to giving residents and providers timely, trustworthy information they can act on. This is particularly important as we work to protect communities against preventable diseases. Sharing standardized data through a platform like the U.S. Disease Tracker strengthens our ability to spot trends early, coordinate with neighboring states, and support the healthcare providers on the front lines of patient care."
Unlike dashboards built on media reports or web scraping, the USDT relies on standardized, validated data submitted directly by participating health departments. The tracker complements the CDC's National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, which continues to provide the backbone of national disease surveillance.
Data are displayed at the state and substate level with age group breakdowns, refreshed every Friday morning, and publicly available and downloadable through a linked USDT GitHub repository.
The U.S. Disease Tracker is available at usdiseasetracker.org. For more information on vaccine-preventable diseases in Connecticut, visit ct.gov/dph. Residents with questions about vaccination or health services in their community can also call 2-1-1.
