The SHIN-NY has been supporting healthcare providers and public health departments since the start of the COVID-19 crisis in New York State in a variety of ways. One component of this support has included aiding state and local public health departments by conducting reporting of and enabling access to medical and demographic information.
Across the state, there has been a significant increase in access of SHIN-NY data by public health departments between March and June of this year. During that time, the network has been accessed over 3 million times by state and local public health departments related to nearly 600,000 COVID-19 positive or presumed positive patients and potential exposed contacts in New York State. Over 90% of this SHIN-NY access by public health users took place within the downstate region, the area hit hardest by the pandemic.