Question: We’re taking a road trip!  Wanted to be extra careful of places with high levels of risk (gonna try and avoid them).  Where can I find up-to-date information?

Answer: I think the data point that you’re most interested in is “community transmission,” which tells you how high the risk of transmission is in a given community.  CDC measures level of community transmission based on two indicators– new cases per population in the last 7 days and percent of tests that are positive in the past 7 days.  And CDC keeps this data updated on its public website, here (Figure 1).  Overall, rates of community transmission are falling across the country; 33% of all counties are experiencing “low transmission” and 49% of counties are experiencing “moderate transmission”; only 8% (256) of counties are experiencing “high transmission”.  Compare that to one month ago and you’ll see the power of vaccines (Figure 2)!  On CDC’s website, you can zoom into the map to get a better look county-by-county.  I just zoomed in and was heartened to see that Maryland is awash in blue, e.g. “low risk”, with just a handful of counties in yellow “moderate risk.”  Clearly, there are still swaths of the country that have substantial and high risk, but so far, the picture keeps improving.  Enjoy your trip!    

Figure 1. Recent Levels of Community Transmission by County (from CDC)

FIgure 2. Levels of Community Transmission One Month Ago  (from CDC)