Reading For Treasure: COVID Trackers

Reading for Treasure is my list of articles (and other readings) that are worth your attention. Click here for an introduction! 

 

I have struggled with figuring out COVID statistics. I used to go to my state’s Department of Health page, but it was very difficult to understand. I couldn’t tell if things were getting better or worse and there was no way to put the statistics into context.

 

I have come to rely on two tracking websites that make both my state and other place’s information understandable and help me put compare my state to other places.

 

Here is an NPR article about the Harvard Global Health Institute’s map, which I find very easy to understand. Here is the actual website. 

 

The Atlantic has started the COVID-19 Tracking Project. They also include a tracker that focuses on race.

Using the Atlantic’s data, this website provides a very clear overall tracking of the outbreak by state. Each state is either in the red or in the green and then specific curves for each state are provided. This may be the clearest tracker I have found and it is the one I turn to most frequently.

 

Two other sources that are worth a look are NPR’s tracking page and a complex visualization at Domo.

 

Different trackers may work for different readers depending on what data makes sense to you and how you prefer to see the situation represented. I have found that all of the above sources agree on the overall trend. You will not be able to find better or worse news between them, just different ways of representing the data.

 

Currently, I am reading Dawn by Octavia Butler.