It’s pretty clear, at this point, that the U.S.’s political leaders would like for us all to pretend that the pandemic is over. And the mainstream media—tasked with holding these powerful people accountable—has let them do it.
The Open Notebook has launched a new community program, called the Covering Science Slack, which could be a great opportunity for some journalist readers of the COVID-19 Data Dispatch. In this Slack server, general assignment and local journalists who are interested in improving their science reporting skills engage in discussions with experienced science journalists, who serve as mentors.
Following up on last week’s call for donations to the COVID-19 Data Dispatch, I wanted to share some suggestions for other COVID-related organizations that are taking donations this holiday season.
If you have found this newsletter, this blog, or any of my other COVID-related writing and analysis valuable: please consider donating to support my work. You can either make a monthly donation with Pico or a one-time donation with Ko-fi.
This weekend, I traveled to Denver, Colorado for a fellowship trip. It’s a risky time to be traveling, thanks to the ongoing BA.5 surge; here are some things I did to stay safe on the plane and throughout the trip.
It takes a lot of effort to remain hopeful as the U.S. fails to respond to the continued pandemic. Here are some suggestions, inspired by a recent story by Ed Yong in The Atlantic.
This time next week, I’ll be at NICAR 2022—the Investigative Reporters and Editors’ annual data journalism conference. And I do mean “at”: though the conference this year will be held in a hybrid format with both in-person and virtual options, I’ve chosen to travel for the in-person sessions in Atlanta, Georgia.
Starting this week, I’m joining the team at Documenting COVID-19 on a part-time basis. Documenting COVID-19, for those unfamiliar, is an open-records project that makes pandemic data and records from all levels of the U.S. government available to journalists and researchers.
I went on vacation in California recently, driving around the state with my sister. Here are some precautious that we took to make our trip as safe as possible in light of the current COVID-19 surge.
When will the COVID-19 pandemic be truly over? The Open Notebook and the COVID-19 Data Dispatch asked 26 pandemic reporters and communicators this daunting question. Their responses provide some potential numeric thresholds—but also remind us that, even when all metrics are met, some people will remain vulnerable.