The COVID Tracking Project (https://covidtracking.com) is a volunteer effort that began at The Atlantic but quickly expanded to become the ongoing work of hundreds of “volunteer data-gatherers, developers, scientists, reporters, designers, editors, and other dedicated contributors.” The COVID Tracking Project team conscientiously aggregated COVID data for 50 states, 5 territories, and the District of Columbia for one year, from March 7, 2020, to March 7, 2021. That data has been cited in more than 7700 news stories and more than 1,000 academic papers and used by federal agencies in both the Trump and the Biden administrations. In the interview linked below, science journalist Maryn McKenna interviews Jessica Malaty Rivera, a team leader for the COVID Tracking Project for Module 3 of the Knight Center course for journalists, “Covering the COVID-19 Vaccine: What Journalists Need to Know.” Rivera holds a masters degree in emerging infectious diseases.
In the 14-minute interview, McKenna and Rivera discuss the work of the COVID Tracking Project and its importance in the context of the US pandemic response, and Rivera delves into the challenges and pitfalls of interpreting variably obtained measures such as positivity rates without unintentionally generating and disseminating misinformation. Rivera points out how positivity rates are flawed as a comparative measurement, how time lags can skew understanding of what is really going on, and how COVID trends are best viewed a week at a time rather than a day at a time. She also tackles vaccine-related misinformation and disinformation, drawing a straight line from disinformation we see circulating about the COVID vaccines on social media today to the well-worn anti-vaxxer playbook.
The interview is a fascinating look at the means we can use to draw accurate conclusions and at principles of effective science communication. Rivera found that her own role expanded beyond her participation in the tracking project when she began to post some simple, short science explainers on social media to help people better understand the pandemic and the data. She found a hunger for clearer understanding in her audiences, and she responded by trying to meet that need. The interview is a terrific look behind the scenes at an important volunteer effort, and it is a real resource to help viewers, journalists or not, better understand how to understand, interpret, and communicate COVID-related data. Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiRKq-Ln7IY
During the interview, Jessica Rivera mentions two additional resources. We highly recommend both. They are linked below:
· Carolyn Mimbs Nyce, The Atlantic, “How to Better Read COVID-19 Data”: https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2021/02/the-atlantic-daily-how-to-better-read-covid-19-data/617926/
· Erica Kissane and Jessica Malaty Rivera, The Covid Tracking Project, “Test Positivity in the US is a Mess”: https://covidtracking.com/analysis-updates/test-positivity-in-the-us-is-a-mess
David R. Kotok
Chairman of the Board & Chief Investment Officer
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