NWSS COVID Case Data Dictionary

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Overview

Read Me
Metadata
Value Sets
Change Log

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Sheet 1: Read Me

General Notes

The level of measure for NWSS DCIPHER COVID-19 case reporting

Each row in the submitted file should have a unique case ID.

Date range:

Include cases with report dates dating back to 30 days prior to the first wastewater sample collection date in the corresponding sewershed reported to CDC NWSS.

Data types:

Fields are read in as strings; data type casting happens after file read in.

Submission Requirements

Required fields:

These fields must be included in the data file; if they are omitted, file upload will be prohibited. For required fields that allow [empty] values, the field column header must be included in the data file even if all row values are [empty].

Non-required but non-empty fields:

Some fields are "not required" but also must have non-empty values, conditional on the completion of another field. Omission of these fields will not interfere with upload of the data file, but will cause them to be flagged for quality control issues once uploaded.

Value Sets

Missing values:

Missing values should be left blank, denoted as [empty] in the Value Sets. Do not use other strings, such as "NA" or "[empty]", to denote missing values."

Requesting additional values for categorical fields:

For categorical fields, restrict values to those listed in the Value Sets. To request that values be added to the vocabulary, please contact NWSS staff.

Case sensitivity:

Fields are not case sensitive.

Data Type Definitions

string

ASCII-encoded characters; do not use line breaks within a value

category

Categorical variable with a defined value set of strings

Terminology

COVID-19 case definition

The case classifications for COVID-19 are described in an an updated interim COVID-19 position statement and case definition issued by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists on August 5, 2020. Please include probable and confirmed cases as defined in the CSTE case definition.

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Sheet 2: Metadata

Field Name	Data Type	Description	Value Set	Units	Submission Requirement	Dependent Fields
local_id	string	State or local unique case ID	[string]; [empty]	[none]	Not required	None
res_state	category	State, DC, US territory, or Freely Associated State jurisdiction name (2-letter abbreviation) of the case's residence	[See Value Sets: vs_res_state]	[none]	Required	None
sewershedres	string	Case residence sewershed name	[string]	[none]	Required	None
cdc_ncov2019_id	string	CDC unique case ID. This is often created by concatenating 'res_state' and the 'local_id'. Please discuss with your jurisdiction's COVID epidemiologist to determine the ID submitted to CDC for case surveillance in the 'cdc_ncov2019_id' field.	[string]	[none]	Required	None
sewershedhosp	string	Hospital sewershed name	[string]; [empty]	[none]	Not required	None

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Sheet 3: Value Sets

Field	Value Set Name			Value Set Name:		vs_res_state
						Value Set	Description
res_state	vs_res_state					AL	Alabama
						AK	Alaska
						AS	American Samoa
						AZ	Arizona
						AR	Arkansas
						CA	California
						CO	Colorado
						MP	Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands
						CT	Connecticut
						DE	Delaware
						DC	District of Columbia
						FM	Federated States of Micronesia
						FL	Florida
						GA	Georgia
						GU	Guam
						HI	Hawaii
						ID	Idaho
						IL	Illinois
						IN	Indiana
						IA	Iowa
						KS	Kansas
						KY	Kentucky
						LA	Louisiana
						ME	Maine
						MD	Maryland
						MA	Massachusetts
						MI	Michigan
						MN	Minnesota
						MS	Mississippi
						MO	Missouri
						MT	Montana
						NE	Nebraska
						NV	Nevada
						NH	New Hampshire
						NJ	New Jersey
						NM	New Mexico
						NY	New York
						NC	North Carolina
						ND	North Dakota
						OH	Ohio
						OK	Oklahoma
						OR	Oregon
						PA	Pennsylvania
						PR	Puerto Rico
						MH	Republic of the Marshall Islands
						PW	Republic of Palau
						RI	Rhode Island
						SC	South Carolina
						SD	South Dakota
						TN	Tennessee
						TX	Texas
						VI	U.S. Virgin Islands
						UT	Utah
						VT	Vermont
						VA	Virginia
						WA	Washington
						WV	West Virginia
						WI	Wisconsin
						WY	Wyoming

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Sheet 4: Change Log

Use of semantic versioning began with v1.0.0. A description follows; see https://semver.org/ for further details.
Major changes (indicated by X in version X.Y.Z): not backwards compatible. In the context of NWSS DCIPHER data submission, these are changes that would cause submission (see note on Submission Requirements) of a data file, if unaltered, to fail upload. These may include addition of required fields or name changes to required fields.
Minor changes (indicated by Y in version X.Y.Z): backwards compatible functionality added. In the context of NWSS DCIPHER data submission, these may be additions of non-required fields, name changes to non-required fields, or changes to value sets, which will not prohibit upload but will be flagged in on-platform QC checks.
Patches (indicated by Z in version X.Y.Z): backwards compatible bug fixes. In the context of NWSS DCIPHER data submission, these may be clarifications of field descriptions, additions to value sets, or reorganization of the metadata.
Date of change	New file name	Version	Major changes	Minor changes	Patches
20210323	Data specification given in "Case and Sewershed Matching Overview_20210323.pdf"	NA	NA	NA	NA
20210823	NWSS COVID Case Data Dictionary_v1_0_0_20210820.xslx	1.0.0	NA	NA	Made submission requirements, data types, and case definition explicit; the schema specified in this data dictionary version is back-compatible with previous CDC NWSS case data submissions