Surveillance Methods Used to Detect, Characterize, and Monitor the COVID-19 Pandemic in Rocky Mountain Tribal Communities

Objective: Data were essential to public health decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet no single data source was adequate for tribes in Montana and Wyoming. We outlined data access, availability, and limitations for COVID-19 pandemic surveillance response to improve future data exchange. Materials and Methods: The Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center (RMTEC) used various data sources to deliver data on the number of COVID-19 cases, deaths, and vaccinations at local, state, and regional levels to inform tribes in Montana and Wyoming. RMTEC reviewed state, federal, and public datasets and then attached a score to each dataset for completeness of demographic information, including race, geographic level, and refresh rate. Results: The RMTEC COVID-19 response team shared data weekly on the number of COVID-19 cases, deaths, and vaccinations distributed and the percentage of the population vaccinated with tribal health departments in Montana and Wyoming. The Indian Health Service Epidemiology Data Mart dataset scored the highest (24 of 30), followed by datasets from Montana (18 of 30) and Wyoming (22 of 30). Publicly available datasets scored low largely due to data aggregation across larger geographic areas and lack of demographic variables. Practice Implications: The absence of data on race and ethnicity from publicly available data and lack of access to real-time data limited RMTEC's ability to provide tribal-specific updates on COVID-19 cases, deaths, and vaccinations to tribal health departments. RMTEC should be fully funded to provide the necessary resources for data management and the capacity to respond to data requests from tribal health departments and their programs to address current and future pandemics. Federal and state agencies should also be educated on Tribal Epidemiology Centers' public health authority status to improve access to infectious disease data among those agencies.