Medical Examiner Launches Public Data Portal

Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s open data portal.

The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office now has an open data portal to provide accurate information on deaths in the county.

The portal includes deaths beyond those attributed to COVID-19. It does not provide names or addresses, but does include age, gender and race data.

Cases can be sorted by mode: accident, natural, suicide, homicide, undetermined or pending. Gender and race are also included as filtering options.

COVID-19 cases can be found under the “natural” mode of death. As Milwaukee Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik detailed during a press briefing Wednesday afternoon, the Medical Examiner’s Office records up to two causes of death. This makes it possible to see underlying conditions.

Kowalik, in response to a reporter’s question, warned that the public should look to the Medical Examiner for official information and not immediately trust things they see on social media. The Medical Examiner’s Office shares updates on cases it is investigating on Twitter at @mkemedexamine.

The office announced the fifth Milwaukee County death related to COVID-19 on Thursday morning. A 57-year-old female from West Allis passed away as a result of coronavirus. She had been hospitalized since March 19th. The case, already available in the new public access portal, notes that she was black and also cites obesity, hypertension and diabetes as secondary causes. She passed away on Wednesday at 9:45 p.m.

The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner Public Access portal was created by the Milwaukee County Information Services Management Division in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is built upon software from California-based Esri.

Similar to the Milwaukee County COVID-19 Dashboard released last week, the public access portal is best viewed through a desktop or laptop instead of a smartphone.

The Medical Examiner’s Office is led by Dr. Brian L. Peterson.