Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated People
COVID-19 Homepage
Information for Health Departments on Reporting Cases of COVID-19
CDC is reviewing this page to align with the expiration of the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.
Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) is a disease caused by the newly emerged coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 is a nationally notifiable disease and reporting cases to CDC is supported by routine case notification through the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS), as well as resources provided through the CDC COVID-19 response.
Reporting COVID-19 Cases to CDC
Please note: COVID-19 case reporting forms and templates are intended for use by health departments. Individuals or organizations with questions about reporting a case should contact their local health department.
The COVID-19 worksheet Pdf[201 KB, 6 pages] collects key information on COVID-19 case-patients, including:
- Demographic, clinical, and epidemiologic characteristics
- Exposure and contact history
- Course of clinical illness and care received
The COVID-19 worksheet standardizes the reporting of information on COVID-19 cases from jurisdictional health departments to CDC. These data will help us:
- Inform public health response to prevent further spread of SARS-CoV-2
- Better understand the virus and its impact on health outcomes
Resources to support jurisdictional health departments submit COVID-19 case data to CDC:
- COVID-19 CSV reporting template Excel[XLS – 3 KB]
- COVID-19 worksheet, annotated with CSV template variables Pdf[201 KB, 6 pages]
- COVID-19 case reporting instructions Pdf[PDF – 382 KB]
- COVID-19 case reporting data dictionary Pdf[PDF – 285 KB]
- COVID-19 CSV submission instructions Pdf[PDF – 231 KB]
- National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) formats, including the Generic v2.0 Message Mapping Guide (MMG) and COVID-19 Message Mapping Guide (MMG)
Please note that the worksheet, instructions, and data dictionary were updated on May 18, 2022
Changes include:
- Addition of 5th and 6th vaccine repeating groups and lineage variable to template, dictionary, and instructions.
- Removal of variables that had been discontinued in May 2020 from dictionary and template.
- Addition of instructions for optional creation and submission of 2020 static dataset to submission instructions.
Archive: Case Report Form Pdf[201 KB, 2 pages], May 2020 (Note: this Case Report Form does not include vaccine history data). Jurisdictions may continue to use the Case Report Form as needed.