COVID-19 Data Dispatch

Category: Uncategorized

  • Featured Sources, Aug. 2

    These sources, along with all others featured in previous weeks, are included in the COVID-19 Data Dispatch resource list.

    • Public health departments, underfunded and under threat: This week, Kaiser Health News (KHN) data reporter Hannah Recht released the dataset behind KHN and The Associated Press’s recent feature on how local public health departments in the U.S. have been left unprepared to face COVID-19. The dataset includes six files examining spending and staffing at public health departments across the country.
    • COVID-19 testing sites: The healthcare company Castlight has built a comprehensive database of COVID-19 testing sites in the U.S., down to the ZIP Code level. Castlight’s Tableau dashboard allows users to explore this database by county and compare the number of available test sites with current case counts. This dataset was cited in a recent 538 article on testing disparities.
    • The CoronaVirusFacts Alliance Database: Since the start of the pandemic, Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network has connected fact-checkers in over 70 countries working to correct COVID-19 misinformation. The results of these fact-checkers’ work are compiled in a database, which you can search by country, fact rating, and topic.
    All featured sources

  • Which COVID numbers you should pay attention to, actually

    My last big story for this week is to heavily recommend this ProPublica feature by Caroline Chen and Ash Ngu on how to navigate COVID-19 data. Chen is a veteran health journalist who has been reporting on COVID-19 since January (and who reported on previous disease outbreaks before that). Her story explains how to understand test positivity rates, data lags, and the inherent uncertainty that comes with any attempt to quantify this pandemic.

    You should really read the full story, but I’ll summarize the main points for you here in case you’re just going to bookmark it for later:

    • Test positivity rates indicate the share of COVID-19 tests in a region which are coming back positive. If the rate is high (above 10%), this may mean only sick people have access to tests, and testing is not occurring widely enough to fully capture the scale of an outbreak. If the rate is low (below 5%), this may mean anyone who wants a test can get one, and epidemiologists will be able to quickly identify and trace new outbreaks.
    • Daily case counts often are not a good indicator of how a region’s outbreak is progressing, because counts of new cases may be undercounted on weekends or during testing delays. For a more accurate picture, look at the seven-day rolling average—a figure that averages a particular day’s number of new cases with the numbers of the six previous days. Also, rises in deaths tend to lag rises in cases by several weeks, reflecting the progression of the disease in COVID-19 patients.
    • It is difficult to state definitively whether a certain event—such as a restaurant opening or a protest—impacted COVID-19 spread in an area. No one event occurs in a vacuum, and any resulting data around that event were likely impacted by testing lags, testing availability, and other factors.
    • Don’t just look at one statistic; look at the whole picture. Ask whether case counts are rising in your area, yes, but also ask: are enough people getting tested? Are the hospitals filling up? How does your state or county compare to others nearby?
    • Find and follow sources you trust to help you interpret data as they are released. A good source will advise you in the areas where they have expertise and let you know when a question is out of their wheelhouse.

  • Featured sources, July 26

    These sources, along with all others featured in forthcoming weeks, are included in the COVID-19 Data Dispatch resource list.

    • The COVID Racial Data Tracker, by the COVID Tracking Project: COVID-19 is killing Black Americans at 2.5 times the rate of white Americans. The COVID Racial Data Tracker (or CRDT) keeps tabs on this disparity and others by collecting case and death counts, broken down by race and ethnicity, from state COVID dashboards. Our dataset is updated twice a week. And I say “our” because I work on this dataset; I’m happy to answer questions about it (betsyladyzhets@gmail.com).
    • Excess deaths associated with COVID-19 (U.S.): One dataset which the CDC hasn’t stopped publishing is a tally of the death toll in the U.S., including deaths which may be directly or indirectly related to the pandemic but have not been reported due to insufficient testing. The dataset is updated weekly, and you can see figures broken down by state and different demographic factors.
    • Excess deaths associated with COVID-19 (international): The Economist compiles a similar dataset to the CDC, tracking excess deaths in countries and cities around the world. You can read about and see visualizations based on these data here.
    All featured sources