How To Avoid COVID-19 Data Headaches

Are you a data storyteller? There’s COVID-19 stories out there to tell, and plenty of information to choose from. But before you start, here’s some suggestions on how to avoid problems and pitfalls.

I’d like to focus, as a professional, on the ways we can evolve our trends and methods, and overcome our technical challenges. Most people are working hard to bring us information, and often risking their health — and life — along the way. We owe them a huge amount of gratitude.

Here, I’ve written about four suggestions meant to make your project easier, better, and more meaningful for your audience, covering:

· Getting Data

· Deciding What to Report

· Problems You Can Expect

· Staying Human, and Staying In Your Lane

THE EASY PART: GETTING DATA

Every day more and more are available. There’s been a few helpful aggregations of WHO, JHU, and Country, State, and Region that I’ve used, including:

Starschema’s aggregation, here: https://github.com/starschema/COVID-19-data

The New York Times also is a good aggregation, here: https://github.com/nytimes/covid-19-data

UsaFacts runs a comprehensive site at https://usafacts.org/visualizations/coronavirus-covid-19-spread-map/

…BUT, WHAT TO REPORT?