  COVID-19 has spread all over the world, having an enormous effect on our
daily life and work. In response to the epidemic, a lot of important decisions
need to be taken to save communities and economies worldwide. Data clearly
plays a vital role in effective decision making. Data-driven decision making
uses data related evidence and insights to guide the decision making process
and to verify the plan of action before it is committed. To better handle the
epidemic, governments and policy making institutes have investigated abundant
data originating from COVID-19. These data include those related to medicine,
knowledge, media, etc. Based on these data, many prevention and control
policies are made. In this survey paper, we summarize the progress of
data-driven decision making in the response to COVID-19, including COVID-19
prevention and control, psychological counselling, financial aid, work
resumption, and school re-opening. We also propose some current challenges and
open issues in data-driven decision making, including data collection and
quality, complex data analysis, and fairness in decision making. This survey
paper sheds light on current policy making driven by data, which also provides
a feasible direction for further scientific research.
