Covid Tracking API

I have worked with API a little bit when I needed to pull file/folder information in Dropbox or needed to push data into QuickBase, but those efforts involved using VBA to do the work. They have involved a bit of work trying to figure out how to make the connections work and usually I have to sift through their instruction manuals to see what must be done. Dropbox has a wonderful testing section that allows you to use their modular form to build up the instructions, with code lines shown in curl, html and possibly 2 other languages to help you with the coding.

The Covid Tracking Project, which contains daily coronavirus state data on infections, hospitalization, deaths, recoveries, etc., provides API too. The Covid Tracking Project is an effort by The Atlantic magazine and is apparently the source of data for a lot of other reporting entities (New York Times, John Hopkins Hospital, governments). The API, in this case, is really easy to use, especially if you are using Power Query under Data tab in Excel or Power BI. No coding involved.

Here’s the API page: https://covidtracking.com/data/api. You should go through the Covid Tracking home page to read up on their efforts. There’s a lot of neat stuff, if it wasn’t so deadly.

Here’s the API data download link: https://covidtracking.com/data/download

The download page will look like:

You will see towards the bottom of the page a section called State Data and “Download all available data for all states: /api/v1/states/daily.csv. I’ve highlighted in yellow up above.

That little snippet, is PART of the link address you need for your Power Query or Power BI. If you hover over that snippet, the full web address will appear on the lower left side of your screen, as shown in graphic below. I’ve highlighted it in yellow.

Plug in that web address in the box after clicking on Get Data in Power Query or Power BI. From there, you can go on your merry way.